The Chattanooga Choo Choo playday is unforgiving for the Warren County High School volleyball team.
The heat, the opponents and the early-season adjustments almost always result in the Lady Pioneers struggling to tally wins, but wins and losses aren’t the reason why coach Franklin Fisher attends the playday every year.
Getting tested early is exactly what coach Fisher wants as his team looks  for its third straight regional berth.
Despite splitting two matches and losing three others, coach Fisher and the Lady Pioneers left the Choo Choo playday with more confidence heading into the regular season.
“We think it went very well,” said Fisher. “We got an excellent look at our defense and service receive against four regional qualifiers from last year, including the No. 3 team in the state Soddy Daisy.”
“Playing five matches in six hours is a great measuring stick of heart and conditioning. It was great for experience and we took a couple of sets and weren’t dominated by anybody,”said Fisher.
The Lady Pioneers faced a familiar foe when play began Saturday morning. Warren County split two sets with Chattanooga Arts and Sciences, the same team which defeated the Lady Pioneers in a scrimmage two weeks ago at Charlie Dalton Gym.
Coach Fisher used his team’s second match against Walker Valley as a chance to get a look at several of his team’s younger players. Walker Valley took both sets.
The third match was a District 6-AAA preview as Warren County faced the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers. As it has gone the last three seasons, Cookeville won both sets.
Coach Fisher thought of the match as a training session for the regular season, where the  Lady Pioneers could finally end Cookeville’s three-year winning streak in district.
“It was great for us to get an early look at their strengths and weaknesses,” said Fisher. “We’ll make adjustments to compensate effectively before we meet again.”
The final two matches ended in a split with Signal Mountain and a loss to Soddy Daisy, the team which has eliminated the Lady Pioneers in the last two regional tournaments.
For the day, seniors led the way in all statistical categories.
Blair Fisher finished with 60 assists, most going to Caroline McKinley, and six aces.
McKinley led the team in kills with 43 and blocks with 11. McKinley added nine assists as she served as the team’s second setter.
Kaitlin Lawrence had a solid day, finishing with 16 kills, seven aces and four blocks. Megan Dishman added 16 kills, three blocks and three aces.
McKinley and Lawrence each had big kills that the other team felt. Against Cookeville, McKinley slammed a shot that left a Lady Cavalier reeling after being hit in the face. Lawrence duplicated the feat against a player from Chattanooga Arts and Sciences.
Senior Karoline Deaton and juniors Lauren Wilson and Kelsey Lawrence stepped up to fill out the rotation for the Lady Pioneers.
Deaton made several solid digs in the back row, Wilson finished with eight kills and Kelsey showed improvement as a strong-side blocker.
The Lady Pioneers will continue practice this week before starting their season next Tuesday.
Warren County opens its season with a road match against Franklin County Aug. 14. The Lady Pioneers will also play Cannon County on the road Thursday, Aug. 16.
Warren County will play host to Cannon County and Van Buren County Monday, Aug. 27 at Charlie Dalton Gym.