In her first full season as Douglas County volleyball coach, Lindsey Moon has her team playing their best ball in years.

Finishing third in both the Rockmart Invitational and Wolfpack Invitational at North Paulding High School last week Moon’s team is slowly but surely coming together as region play kicked off this past Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers (7-5, 1-1) split their opening area matches on Tuesday sweeping Lithia Springs (2-0) and losing two hard fought matches vs. Hiram (27-25 and 25-21).

Coming into area play, Douglas County has used non-region games to fine tune their play,

“We switched to a 6-2 offense this year which is totally new to us,” Ms. Moon said. “We don’t have a lot of outside hitters so we have been working on our rotations with two setters.”

A 6-2 offense features two designated setters, one on the front and back rows.

Playing these key positions for Moon’s team are Torrie Livingston and Victoria Rushin. Livingston, a senior, is one of the more experienced players for Douglas County and has garnered offers to play collegiately at Oglethorpe and Emory according to moon.

From the most experienced to the least, freshman Rushin has provided a spark for the Lady Tigers. “She is the only freshman on the team, she is our other setter but also a great server and just kills the ball all the time,” said coach Moon.

Playing with nine seniors coach Moon, hopes to make some noise in the area tournament this year.

“This team has a lot of perseverance, there have been a few games like against Lithia Springs, we got down and I thought we might be out of it but the girls fought back to win,” said the first-year coach. “We would love to win the area and have a shot at state tournament…if we work on our communication on the court we have a shot.”

After losing to Douglas County, Lithia Springs rebounded to beat Villa Rica 2-0. The Lions will play North Paulding and Hiram Sept. 14 at Hiram in key area matches.

Chapel Hill (9-3, 2-0) beat South Paulding, Paulding County and Temple and now sits atop the area standings.