As the 2025-2026 Georgia High School Association volleyball regular season begins to wind down, the Chamblee Bulldogs solidified the No. 3 seed heading into their region tournament, which will begin in a couple of weeks, after they closed out their tri-match with a 2-0 win over the Tri Cities Bulldogs.
However, the night did not begin in a manner in which Chamblee head coach, Lorri Reynolds would have preferred to see from her players as they dropped their opening match to Woodward Academy, but it was not necessarily the loss Reynolds was focused on, rather it was how she believed her players approached the match.
"We did not play well against Woodward [Academy] and we did not have the right mindset," Reynolds said of the Bulldogs, who are in a rebuild mode, having graduated several players from last year's team which finished 32-13 overall and second in the region, reaching the second round of the GHSA state championship tournament.
"We lost a lot of talent from last year so my kids our really young and it's important that against these big type, really good teams that we play, we have to come out with the same mindset," Reynolds said of her girls needing to approach every match in the same manner as they did against Tri Cities. "I need them to play better against the really, really difficult teams," Reynolds added.
Chamblee's third place regular season finish, mark just the third time they have been lower than the No. 2 seed entering the region tournament since the shortened 2020-2021 season which started late due to Covid-19. And while the Bulldogs may be young, Reynolds believes a change in "energy" and "confidence" will be key for a strong finish to the season.
"I think they need to play together more and for each other more and they're getting there but it is a struggle with all the new kids, but I want to close out the year with them on a high note," Reynolds said.