The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans volleyball team gets their 2018 season underway with a tri-match in Montgomery next Tuesday evening.

Head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick enters year two at Charles Henderson and he hopes to build off a successful 2017 season in which the Trojans went 21-17.

“We’re getting there,” Kirkpatrick said. “We still have a long way to go to be where I think we can get to. We are making strides in that direction.”

The Trojans tri-match to begin the season will be with Montgomery Catholic and Elmore County. Kirkpatrick believes he won’t know exactly where his team stands until the Trojans get a few matches under their belt.

“We will be better off in a week or two after the season starts than we will at the very beginning,” Kirkpatrick said. “We are getting ready and we still have some holes to fill to become a little more consistent.”

With less than a week remaining until the 2018 season begins, the Trojans are taking the final days of the offseason to fine tune their work.

“You can never get enough ball control,” Kirkpatrick said. “We are doing more six-on-six now than what we did to put them into more game-like situations. We can never not do skill work because we are not good enough to ever forget about anything. It’s making sure that you are touching up stuff every day.”

Every coach would like to start their season with an undefeated record, and Kirkpatrick feels the same way. However, he would also like to see his players play with more consistency in the process.

“We set some pretty high standards,” Kirkpatrick said. “You set standards to try and meet them. Whether or not we can be consistent is the biggest issue. We are still trying to figure out how to win on a consistent basis and compete day in and day out.”

The Trojans will compete in an area that includes Carroll of Ozark, Greenville and Rehobeth.

“We have played Carroll and Greenville before, but I have never seen Rehobeth,” Kirkpatrick said. “I know they went to the state tournament last year. Carroll did as well. To get to that level you have to be pretty solid and have some solid players to get to that level.”