Even though most of her players attended team camp last week, or maybe because of it, Stratford volleyball coach Becky Palermo put the Spartans to a test in their first practice Monday.

Instead of concentrating solely on fundamental drills, Palermo decided to start a few 6-on-6 games to gauge their endurance.

“I went backwards,” Palermo said. “I just wanted to see where they are and just change things up, to see who’s really in shape. That will tell you right away. About three or four of them were in pretty bad volleyball shape.

“You can do endurance drills all you want, but when you put them in 6-on-6 running back and forth you can tell easily.”

Seven seniors, three larger than last year’s senior class, are eager to pace the Spartans to the top of District 18-5A. They open the regular season Aug. 12 at Pearland, the first time in seven years they’ll not begin a season as defending district champions. Rival Memorial wrestled the title away last year, sweeping the season series with Stratford and handing the team its only two district losses in 19-5A.

The Spartans seem optimistic that they’ll be paced by their defense, which features liberos Amira Elkhatib, first-year varsity player and senior Chrissy O’Rourke, Taylor Miller and Kara Lechtenberger.

“I feel we’re gonna be a lot better on defense this year,” said senior outside hitter Jennifer Jordan, voted Outstanding Hitter last year in 19-5A. “We have a lot of great defensive specialists … and we’re just coming in with a very good attitude.”

They’re as optimistic about the setters as anything. Seniors Marissa Seick and Laura Edwards will partner with juniors Hayley Church and Kelli Tomlinson in a 6-2 look, which Stratford adopted last year after going with a 5-1 for several years.

“We (the setters) are completely stacked this year and that’s nice to have,” Edwards said. “If one of us is having an off day, we have three (others) to pick up our slack. That’s gonna be good to have while the juniors are stepping from JV and realizing it’s a completely different game at this level.”

Added Jordan: “As a hitter it’s hard to get used to different kinds of sets but then you get used to each other. And the other team has to get used to four different kinds of setters and their styles.”

Jordan will be joined outside by junior Mary Ellen Luck. The middle hitters will be Lindsey Daniel and Kelsey Koszala, with Miriam Cisneros, Paige DeLouche and Emily Pence on the right side.

Like most other area schools, Stratford’s Tuesday practices are canceled in anticipation of a possible strike by Tropical Storm Edouard. The Spartans resume Wednesday and participate in four-team scrimmages at Cypress Creek on Friday and at Kingwood on Saturday.

The Spartans begin district play against Alief Taylor Sept. 12. And if not winning the district championship comes up in that time, chances are Palermo won’t have been the one to bring it up.

“They are hungry and eager and that’s a good thing,” she said. “We haven’t sat down and talked about it but they’re ready to go. Memorial just had a better team than us as far as experience goes and they played better. I’m sure that’s on (the Spartans players) minds a little bit.”

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