By Justin Fedich | Selma Times-Journal

Eight games into the season, the Morgan volleyball team is still trying to find a way to win on a consistent basis.

The Morgan Academy Senators (2-6) fell to the Autauga Academy Generals (4-3) 12-25, 23-25, 25-16, 11-25 at home Thursday. Poor passing doomed the Senators and dropped them to four games below .500.

While head coach Caroline Averitt wasn’t pleased with the result, she thought aside from the passing, her team came together and played well as a team.

“Our sets were good. Our hits were good,” Averitt said. “You can’t set and you can’t hit if you can’t pass and it was simply our passing today.”

Morgan struggled to get anything going in the first two sets, but finally got into a rhythm in the third set. Trailing 12-9, the Senators fought back to take a 14-12 lead. A strong hit from Jeni Redd gave Morgan a 16-14 lead.

“Jeni Redd played really well,” Averitt said. “She came in off the bench with a lot of intensity, a lot of spirit and she fought hard every point.”

McKenzie Williams served to extend the lead for the Senators in the third set. Sarah Combs closed out the set and Morgan won 25-16.

Unfortunately for the Senators, they were not able to keep the momentum rolling into the next set and lost in four sets.

Averitt was happy that the Senators let Autauga Academy beat them instead of making enough mistakes to beat themselves.

“We did not beat ourselves, which we have been doing a lot of lately,” Averitt said.

Morgan is still looking for the right formula to win consistently. Averitt hopes the answer for sustained success will come sooner rather than later.

“Volleyball is a skill game. There is a certain skill set. There’s skills for each position, and I’ve just got to figure out the right chemistry with the right skills and the right attitude,” Averitt said.

Morgan’s next match is Tuesday against Edgewood at 4 p.m.