Orangeburg Prep volleyball team rolling

By Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Orangeburg – Katherine Smith is in her first year with the Orangeburg Preparatory School volleyball team. So what’s the head coach’s assessment of the Lady Indians?

“This team has met my expectations and continues to improve,” Smith said.

Orangeburg Prep had a great start to the season with a 17-4-1 overall record and an even better start in region play. The Lady Indians were off to a 3-0 start in SCISA Region 1-AAA after a 3-0 victory over Thomas Sumter Academy on September 30.

Orangeburg Prep had three starters return from last season, each of them an All-Region performer, in Izzy Exum, Annabelle Hunter and Jane Walker Yonce.

Exum led the Lady Indians in kill percentage at 70 percent, digs with 289, blocks with 16 and service aces with 54 last season. She had an 87.0 service percentage and was second on the team in assists with 20.

Hunter led the team with a 95.0 service percentage and in assists with 386. She was fourth on the team in digs with 207. Yonce was second on the team in kill percentage at 62 percent and in service aces with 46. She was third on the team in digs with 223 and had a service percentage of 84.0. 

           Exum was leading Orangeburg Prep in kills this season followed by Yonce and Prestan Schurlknight. Exum was in the top three in solo blocks, assists, aces and digs as well.

           Yonce was leading in both aces and digs, Hunter in assists and Mary Legare Delaney in solo blocks. Jaymie Culler was in the top three in both assists and aces, Schurlknight was third in blocks and Hannah Lambrecht was second in digs.

           The rest of the Orangeburg Prep roster includes Layla Garrick, Paige Bonnette, Emma Grace Burleson, Kate Holstein and Morgan Newsome.

           “A willingness to learn, will to win and ability to continue playing hard in competitive games,” was Smith’s response when asked about the Lady Indians’ strengths. “This team is supportive of one another and have gelled well.”

           Orangeburg Prep played host to Clarendon Hall on October 2 and was scheduled to play host to Calhoun Academy on October 7 and travel to Thomas Sumter on October 9 to close out its region schedule.

           OP FOOTBALL TEAM STARTS 2-4

           The Orangeburg Prep football team fell to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Region 2-AA with a 29-26 loss to Calhoun Academy. Perhaps because of his 4-plus decades of coaching, Indians head coach Don Shelley is taking things in stride.

           “We let a couple of games get away that I thought we should probably win,” Shelley said. One of those games was definitely against Calhoun.

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“We had a chance to put it on ice,” Shelley said in reference to having an interception return for a touchdown called back because of a penalty. “Then they scored last. It was a good high school game.”

Quarterback Walt Mims completed 8 of 15 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown to lead Orangeburg Prep. The touchdown pass went to Tilden “T” Riley, who had five catches for 85 yards. Riley also had a 48-yard touchdown run.

J’Syri Parker rushed for 57 yards and two touchdowns, and Hunter Judy caught two passes for 59 yards.

Riley led the Indians with 12 tackles. Mims had nine tackles and an interception, Judy had 10 tackles, and Brayden Gramling had nine tackles.

       “I thought we played extremely hard,” said Shelley, who is in the second season of his second stint at Orangeburg Prep. “Offensively, we did better as far as taking the ball down the field on drives, and we hit a couple of big shots. We scored 26 the other night and had a chance to score a few more. It was probably our most consistent performance all year.”

As the Indians prepared for the fourth of five region contests against Spartanburg Christian Academy on October 4, Shelley said, “We’re just going to come out this week and try to get better and see where we fall.”

Orangeburg Prep closes out its season with non-region games against Northside Christian Academy on October 11 and Patrick Henry Academy on October 25. OP closes the regular season and its region schedule at Thomas Sumter Academy on November 1.

Shelley is hoping the Indians can get better at execution coming down the homestretch.

“In some ways I feel good about them, and in some ways still hurting ourselves with mistakes,” he said. “If we can iron those things out we can be a tough out for everybody.

“Weve had problems with snaps at times and sometimes it's hard to overcome those things. We haven’t turned it over that much. Our drive killers have been penalties and snaps.”

Mims and Gramling had been sharing time at quarterback until Gramling suffered a shoulder injury and missed two games. Though Gramling returned for the Calhoun game, he played just on the defensive side.

“We just decided that we wanted to go with Mims at quarterback,” Shelley said. Prior to the Spartanburg Christian game, Mims had completed 29 of 48 passes for 474 yards and four touchdowns.

Riley was the leading receiver with 21 catches for 364 yards and six touchdowns. Judy had 11 catches for 230 yards and a touchdown. Parker was leading the Indians in rushing with 225 yards and four touchdowns on 54 carries.

Gramling was leading in tackles with 37.