Camden volleyball team opens with 8-9 record in Tristany Radford's first season
Bulldogs football teams opens with 5-2 record
Camden – Tristany Radford’s first season as the head coach of the Camden High School volleyball team hasn’t gone as she expected. That, however, hasn’t left her undeterred.
“Stepping into any position like this is a whirlwind in a sense,” said Radford, whose team won eight of its first 17 matches and was 6-5 in Region 3-AAAA. “I've coached the game for a long time now, there's just a lot of pieces to balance and keep up with, but I'm up for that challenge.”
Radford took over for Paige Wilson, who retired after 32 years as head coach. The Bulldogs made the playoffs in 30 of those seasons, winning two state titles. Radford was Wilson’s assistant for the last 10 seasons, something that has aided her immensely in the transition.
“Luckily this wasn't too hard of an adjustment seeing that I've been a part of this program for 10 years leading up to this season, and these girls know me,” said Radford. “I've coached them already, I taught many of them, and have known them for years. Every day we show up, work hard, and play the game.”
Radford knew there could be some growing pains this season. Camden had only two returning starters from last year’s 22-5 team. They are senior Leah Hendrix and junior Aubrey Thompson.
“We are a young team,” Radford said. “Graduating as many as we did, we were very open with the fact that we're rebuilding, we're going to have to put in the work to get the outcomes we desire.
“My expectations are to leave everything on the court, walk away feeling OK with the results of whatever happens, knowing we did all we could. Seeing how hard they've played, how far they've come, I can confidently say they're putting in the work to improve every day.”
Hendrix is the team leader in kills with 246, service aces with 33, serves received with 210 and digs with 129 to go with eight blocked shots and 12 assists. Thompson has 36 kills, 16 digs and nine blocks.
Freshman Laekyn Peebles has 60 kills, 208 serves received, 95 digs and 23 aces while junior Skyler Mathis has a team high 20 blocks to go with 51 kills, 45 digs and 10 aces.
Other members of the rotation are sophomore Ryan Neal, junior Lilli Hall, senior Marley Vincent and junior Tristen Ware.
Neal leads the team with 208 assists to go with 116 digs, nine kills, 21 aces, while Hall has six kills, 15 aces, 90 digs and 14 assists. Vincent has 51 digs, 13 kills, 25 aces, five blocks and 48 assists. Ware has 63 digs and 16 assists.
Other members of the team are senior Anaiah Cain, junior Kaelyn Johnson, junior Gray Grumbach, junior Lillian Chmiel, freshman Reeves Beckham and junior Emma Oddie.
“This team is extremely coachable, they want to be good at what they do,” Radford said. “And they're a very versatile team. Many of them can hold their own in various positions, and we use that to our advantage.”
CAMDEN FOOTBALL STARTS 5-2
The Camden football team owned a 5-2 overall record and a 2-1 region record after falling to top-rated South Pointe 28-7 on October 3.
While winning the region title may prove difficult, the Bulldogs are in position to finish second and get a home game in the first round of the state playoffs. Their regular-season finale against once-beaten A.C. Flora will likely determine that.
Tylin Drakeford was selected to the Shrine Bowl roster as a defensive back. Through six games, Drakeford had two interceptions for 46 return yards, nine tackles and one pass breakup. As a wide receiver, he had 22 catches for 365 yards and seven touchdowns. He also had nine carries for 198 yards.
Quarterback Greyson Rimpf had 66 completions in 102 attempts for 1,005 yards and 16 TD passes.
