DAPHNE, Alabama - The Lady Trojans face something of a reloading situation this year as head coach Edoli Herrion begins her third season at her Jubilee City alma mater, Daphne High.

Graduation took its share of attrition on the Daphne starting rotation of 2011 with six-position hitter Sierra Patterson and four-year veterans Kayla and Krista Owens leaving the setter and libero spots open as well as hitter/blockers and servers in Kelsey Roebuck and Barkley Langan.

“It is a little like back to the drawing board time this year,” Herrion said. “Sierra and the twins almost never came out and those are key spots to fill and all together we lost five good ones to graduation with Kelsey and Barkley. But we have great kids coming back and three to five of them were regular players, unless they were hurt, and a couple were able to start a lot and get some serious time. Injuries hurt us last year and we have some that are still not quite 100 percent and some who can’t really practice yet. But having some back that played club ball over the spring and summer always helps, too.”

Seniors Taylor Barnette, Katherine Barr, Julia Cleveland, Taylor Pitt, Anna Ramsey, Audrey Walding and Taylor Wright will lead the way with underclassmen Jordan Filotei bringing significant experience to the libero position and Hope Fulton returning as an all-around player.

“Defense will be big for us,” Herrion said. “We’ll be working a lot on basics and conditioning because we will have to be able to pick up a lot of balls. We just will not have the height to block all of the hitters. Taylor (Wright) is my only net player close to six feet (tall) and she and Catherine — who’s a good blocker — pair up together real well but good teams will work around them.

“So we have to be balanced on defense and cover the floor with a lot of hustle and heart and it’s going to take take a little more time. On offense, I’m going to have to try some different things and see what works and hope we find the right formula for success. We’re going to play in a jamboree Saturday at Spring Hill (College) and hopefully get some kinks out and we’ll also see some good teams over there. We’ll get a sense of where we stand by the first game.

“But overall we have some good basic chemistry for a strong foundation and these girls have a great attitude too and that’s something good going for us.”

Daphne opens at home Aug. 23, hosting Cottage Hill and Murphy in a tri-match and opens the area run against the Golden Bears of Robertsdale at home Aug. 30.

Herrion will have quality help this year with assistant coaches Whitney Love who was a multi-sport athlete at Daphne and Reynolds Pittman who played volleyball for Ann Schilling at Bayside and lettered in basketball, track and softball.