Lady Cards have big shoes to fill

The Columbus Lady Cardinals have been working in their training camp to prepare for the 2024 season and they have some big shoes to fill.

Last season the Lady Cards posted a 43-6 record with a 14-0 record in district making them the District Champions.

They rode that wave all the way to the state semi-finals where they were eliminated by Gunter. With the team being eliminated that also ended the high school careers of some notable Lady Cards.

Four seniors will not be returning to the Lady Cards this season and those four are Ally Tribe, Sage Thomas, Ember Mandola and Claire Klausmeyer. All four are leaving big shoes to fill because they made up most of the starting roles on the team.

On top of that the Lady Cards are losing the all-time kill leader and all-time assist leader for Columbus ISD in Tribe and Thomas respectively. With Klausmeyer and Mandola leaving too it leaves a few defensive holes for the Lady Cards to fill.

The good news for Lady Cards fans is that they have the prospect pipeline to fill every single one of those holes and be just as competitive as they have always been. As far as the kill production they Lady Cards received on the outside from Tribe they have a player ready to take control of that role and breakout this season.

Taylor Morrow was right behind Tribe when it came to kills last season, there were games where Tribe would rack up 30 kills, but Morrow was right behind her with 17 of her own. With Tribe moving on to play volleyball at UTSA Morrow will have a ton of opportunities to make an impact.

Another returner that will help stabilize the team throughout this season is Caylie Neisner. She was one of, if not, the best libero in the district last season and has shown no signs of slowing down.

Throughout camp Neisner has distinguished herself as a vocal leader who also leads by example. She has a chip on her shoulder to help get the team over the hump and she is showing that urgency in practice and the team is feeding off the energy.

Last but certainly not least is the return of Gracie Schobel who brings energy and excitement to the team. Schobel has a knack for getting her teammates to play loose and really enjoy the grind that is volleyball season.

She’s great at keeping spirits high and none of her teammates have a bad thing to say about her. Couple that with the fact that she is a very talented and smart volleyball player and the Lady Cards are primed to make another deep run in the playoffs this season.

The Lady Cards are set to start their season on Thursday, Aug. 15, when they host the Columbus Varsity Volleyball Classic.