Well-executed serves and carefully place returns led to a 25-11; 26-16; 25-11 Warren Central volleyball sweep of Florence Thursday evening.

The Lady Vikes served 19 total aces among the three games and began the night cruising with a 9-0 lead in the first set.

However, the nonreturnable serves weren’t the only factor that made Warren Central victorious.

It was more so how the Lady Vikes made themselves a difficult matchup for their opponent.

“They had a lot of balls that we dropped short and put long, and a lot of floaters that were difficult to handle,” Warren Central coach Matt Gullett said. “I was really proud of them.”

Warren Central played a strong front row that matched Florence’s height at the net to interfere with the Eagles’ returns, despite not collecting a significant amount of blocks.

“We had a lot of good kills tonight, our front row attacking was very, very good,” Gullett said. “We’re a little more aggressive on the offensive side.”

The overall concentration for the summer has been centered on every possible aspect of how the team approaches the game.

The biggest thing for Gullett and his team is being able to get the ball in a position where it’s playable, which then incites a trickle down effect: when the setters have an easy time setting up plays, it makes it easier for attackers making it easier to score.

Gullett lost nine players to graduation but returns a good crew of experienced, skilled talent.

“This year we’ve got three seniors and they’ve done a great job playing with these juniors and with the sophomores. We played four sophomores, three or four juniors and even had a freshman out there tonight playing front row,” Gullett said.

Summer scrimmages against Jackson-area schools were added in an effort to gauge the team’s weaknesses while identifying their strengths.

The Lady Vikes played five games earning a 3-2 record against Ridgeland, Madison Central and St. Andrews. They lost to MAIS state champions Jackson Academy and had an evenly competitive game against Madison-St. Joseph.

“They beat us by two, we beat them by two and in the third game they beat us by two,” Gullett said about Warren Central’s ability to play with a more competitive team.

Thursday was a reflection of skills worked on by Warren Central throughout the summer, which are offensive and defensive positioning, and giving help to teammates.

But there’s still progress that needs to be made before the season starts and the summer games have been a “huge difference maker.”

“We still have to work on covering and getting back in offensive positioning some. Our back row attacking is looking better than it ever has. That’s something we’ve been working a lot on. Our setter communication has been great,” Gullett said