Women's Volleyball | 7/30/2025 10:30:00 AM

As quickly as summer training wrapped up for the Clinton High School Volleyball team, so too has the regular season arrived this week.

The Lady Arrows and first-year Head Volleyball Coach Natalie DuVall look forward to a competitive start to their season at the third-annual MHSAA Mississippi Volleyball Invitational (MVI) on Friday and Saturday (Aug. 1 & 2) in Jackson.

With a slew of returning rotational players from the 2024 season and a youthful roster, containing only one senior, Clinton looks forward to improving throughout the fall. For DuVall, the main focus is process over perfection. This process has paid dividends over the summer and preseason practices.

"I have been impressed with how our players have responded and bought into our style of coaching," DuVall said. "We train not only skill, but also the mental aspect of the game. We have worked hard this off season to push through challenges, and our coaching staff quickly learned that once you set the standard, our players will push to meet the standard. We keep our standards high to produce growth."

Through the process, the Lady Arrows are setting goals that are individual and holistic in nature for the 2025 campaign. One of the main team objectives is a playoff berth, which would be the team's first postseason appearance since 2022.

"I envision growth to be continuous because there is always room for improvement no matter how advanced a team or player may be," DuVall said. "Our job as coaches is to set a goal and strive to reach that goal collectively and individually. Over time, you can see growth and changes that are made when the goal is met. This season, I expect to see growth within our program by setting a goal with playoffs in mind."

At the MVI, the Lady Arrows open pool play against Alcorn Central (3:30 p.m.), Lake Cormorant (4:30 p.m.), and Gulfport (7:30 p.m.) at the Jackson Convention Center on Friday. The top two teams in the pool will advance to the Gold bracket on Saturday, and the other two teams in each pool will play in the Silver bracket. Bracket placement will be randomly selected once play concludes and seeding is determined Friday evening.

The Lady Arrows open their home schedule against Petal on Tuesday, August 5, and take on St. Andrew's Episcopal School on Thursday, August 7. These two matches are the first two of 10 regular-season matches at CHS Arrow Gym.

"We would love to have support from fans this season," DuVall added. "The team and coaching staff have worked hard to prepare for these upcoming games, and we would love to see people from our community in the stands."

QUICK FACTS

• Natalie DuVall joins the Lady Arrows from Germantown Middle School in Madison County where she led Germantown to three Little Six Championships and three Top Hits Classic Championships.

• Duvall rounded out her coaching staff with Megan Smith, who additionally is the CJHS Head Volleyball Coach, and Morgan Ray, a graduate of Clinton High School.

• Clinton remains a member of MHSAA Region 2-7A for the next two school years. The Lady Arrows take on familiar foes Madison Central, Germantown, Starkville, and Murrah and welcome new region opponent Oxford. Each team will play twice during the season in order to determine postseason seeding.

• All 10 home matches will be streamed on HudlTV. To see the home slate, follow this link to the 2025 schedule.