The Andalusia Lady Bulldogs volleyball team hopes to get back to a dominating presence this year in Class 4A, Area 3 as they start a new season.

Andalusia suffered a bitter area tournament loss last year and fell in the Class 4A regional tournament in Montgomery.

All summer long, the Lady Bulldogs have been practicing in anticipation for the first game later this month.

“I think we looked real strong at camp,” Andalusia coach Angie Grimes said. “We played a summer game against Kinston and Enterprise. I thought that we did well in all of our fundamentals. We’ve been poor on passing and I was always worried about that, but I thought that we looked pretty good in our passing when we played the summer game.”

Grimes said the keys that looked good this summer were on offense and defense.

“I think our defense looked pretty good in the summer as well as our offense,” she said. “We’ve still got to work on some stuff and as the season progresses, I expect that to get better.”

Grimes said instead of using a 6-2 defense, the team will employ a one-setter 5-1 defense this year.

“That just means we’ll have one setter all the time,” she said.

Grimes said her team’s main goal this season is to make it back to state.

“It was really disappointing last year when we didn’t get to make it that far,” Grimes said. “Of course we want to advance back to the elite eight state championships. That’s a big goal of ours is to get back and if we can work hard we can.

“This is the first year we’ve utilized playing the summer game,” she said. “We’ve practiced and had summer workouts all along practicing two times a week.”

One aspect that the Lady Bulldogs have on their side is height.

“One thing I think everybody will be impressed with us this year is our blocking,” she said. “We probably will be one of the best blocking teams around here. This is the tallest team I’ve ever had.

“From what I can tell — and, of course, we’ve only played the little game this summer — it’s going to be hard to hit between us.”

Grimes said the team is anxious to start the season right.

“I think I have some great athletes and some great talent,” Grimes said. “I’m eager to get out there, pull it all together and ready to play.”