In her first year as coach at Eastside after two years at Alcovy, Maggie Johnston led the Eagles volleyball team to their best season in recent memory.

Eastside was far and above the best team in the east metro area in 2016, going 23-16 overall with a 6-3 mark in Region 4-AAAA and a berth in the Class AAAA state playoffs. Although the Eagles lost three productive seniors to graduation, their 17-member roster has some nine players with game experience.

Johnston, an Iowa native who played collegiately at Charleston Southern, expressed confidence in her team entering the 2017 campaign, but said team chemistry will be an important factor in the Eagles success.

Every year, no matter how many kids you have on the team, it all depends on chemistry, said Johnston. The girls dont necessarily have to like each other, but if we can control the chemistry, we should be in good shape. Theyre already comfortable with our defensive and offensive sets, so we wont have to spend a lot of time teaching that, so that helps a lot.

The returning player Eastside will most depend upon is senior middle hitter Chasity Smith, who was named first-team all-region and was a selection on the All-Citizens volleyball team. At 5-foot-10, Smith who also plays on the Gwinnett County-based Aftershock club team didnt start playing volleyball until her freshman year but Johnston says shes seen a lot of improvement in just a short time.

Shes very athletic, with a great vertical leap, said Johnston of Smith. And shes athletically built and very explosive. Shes also got a great technique. Shes grown tremendously and is now playing club. Shes already shown me that shes gotten better over the summer. Chasity is even more powerful and explosive. Shes gotten a lot better and Im expecting her to get even better and close out strong this year.

Johnston adds that she also appreciates Smiths leadership style.

Her biggest quality in the leadership department is leading by example, said Johnston. She goes out every day and works hard and practices hard.

As she tinkers with positions in the preseason, Johnston said shes still mulling personnel moves that will involve senior defender Sierra Springston and junior setter Taylor Costley.

And like many other competitive volleyball teams, Johnston has put together a rigorous pre-region schedule and in the lag between the regular season and postseason has scheduled some best-three-out-of-five exhibitions.

Were trying to schedule teams that are obviously better than us, traditionally, because I think that will be a big help in region play, she said. And weve also got a few best-of-five matches because we were used to playing best-of-three during the season and we ran out of gas when it was best-of-five at state.

New coach Khelsea Willis promises a fresh start from Alcovys 2-20 season from a year ago. The Tigers spent time this summer working with Atlanta Elite Volleyball, building and perfecting their fundamental skills, and Willis was pleased with the teams performance in summer volleyball scrimmages against the likes of Salem and Jackson County.

Alcovys 13-member varsity roster includes a half-dozen returning veterans and Willis is encouraged by the play of sophomore outside hitter Jaelyn Tillman, who transferred from Texas.

Willis also says that as the season begins, the Tigers offense is slightly ahead of its defense.

They were not used to hitting but theyve really taken off with it, she said. Weve got some very powerful hitters and were very confident in our offense. Were still working on our blocking, but I have no doubts about our offense and ability to hit the ball.

Head coach: Maggie Johnston

2016 record: 23-16 (6-3 in Region 4-AAAA), first round of Class AAAA state tournament

Players of note: MH Chasity Smith, Sr.; OH Lillian Fowler, Jr.; MH Taylor Haff, Sr.; S Taylor Costley, Jr.; MB Sierra Springston, Sr.

Head coach: Khelsea Willis

2016 record: 2-20 (0-6 in Region 3-AAAAAA)

Players of note: OH Katherine Hopson, Jr.; S/OH Rachel Culberson, Sr.; S/MH Morgan Hathorne, Fr.; OH Jaelyn Tillman, So.

2016 record: 6-17 (1-2 in Region 8-AAAAAAA)

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NEWTON VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW: Chemistry key for Eastside, Johnston - Rockdale Newton Citizen (press release) (registration)