One former county high school volleyball head coach has rejoined the county ranks for this fall’s volleyball season while another new coach joins four returning head coaches to the sidelines.
The county had three teams with winning records and three with losing records last season as Jefferson County North fell short of a state berth but finished 19-12, Oskaloosa improved by five wins from 2005 to a 16-12 record and Valley Falls was 16-13. Jefferson West improved by a win from 2005 to finish 13-14 while McLouth went 10-19 for a slight improvement from 2005 and Perry-Lecompton slumped to a 4-27 record.
Perry-Lecompton and McLouth have new head coaches this year as former PLHS head coach Jill Bradney returns to the sidelines after 12 years as middle school head coach and one year off for coaching. Bradney was previously head volleyball coach at PLHS for seven seasons. McLouth, meanwhile, welcomes new head coach Erika Houk, who took over for Amy Bergman after Bergman’s two seasons as head coach.
JCN, Valley Falls, Oskaloosa and McLouth have already started their seasons with the Delaware Valley League Tournament Aug. 25 and regular-season games Aug. 28. Jefferson West and Perry-Lecompton started season play head-to-head with a West win Aug. 30.
Following are capsule previews of each team entering this season in order of their finish last season.
JCN Chargers
Coach: Jeremy Gish, seventh year
2006 record: 19-12
After two consecutive state tournament berths, the Chargers got a year off from the trip to Hays for state last season. Gish returns a potent group of players, however, and has gotten out to a great start with a 6-1 record, including a first-place finish in the DVL Tournament.
Gish’s squad of 32 girls includes only four seniors, including returning hitter Jackie Schrick, who won’t be available until late September at earliest after suffering a knee injury over the summer. Most of the varsity spots are taken up by a cadre of juniors and sophomores, so Gish has youth on his side this season and into 2008. The varsity rotation will include senior hitter Haley Nevins, sophomore hitter Mallory GrandPre, junior middle hitters Devin Gigstad and Emily McFarland, setters senior Kelsey Schuler and sophomore Sara Navinskey, and also juniors Lisa Weishaar and Amelia Noll.
“As far as where they play is still kind of up in the air at this point, but we have our basic rotation pretty much set,” Gish said. “The good thing about our younger girls is they’re not only athletic – they have a good volleyball IQ, I guess I’d say. They play together well.”
Gish said passing has been a strength for this team, although he had issues with the team’s work in that area in the Chargers’ only loss – to Oskaloosa on Aug. 28. He said the biggest area in need of shoring up on the team is probably its back-row play.
“Our passing’s been good and we’re able to get offense from a variety of places,” Gish said. “At each position, we have good enough players to make people respect us.”
With the state streak snapped at two seasons, Gish said his and the players’ standards haven’t changed coming into a new season.
“We come in with the same attitude every year. We always want to be the best passing team we can be,” Gish said. “Winning the league is high on our list, but winning state is also high on our list. Our emphasis this season is to play a little more aggressively. Last year the girls and I both knew we didn’t have quite enough intensity. We’re also working on good communication. We tell them good teams communicate not only during plays but before and after, so that’s something we’re stressing.”
Oskaloosa Bears
Coach: Tosha Landau, second year
2006 record: 16-12
Landau considered her first year as Oskaloosa’s head coach a good one and has a very young team this season, but sees a great deal of potential in her squad.
OHS has 23 girls out for volleyball, including only two seniors. The team has gotten out to an up-and-down start this season at 3-3, but the 3 wins include the aforementioned win versus the previously unbeaten county rival JCN Chargers and a 2-0 league start, as the DVL tournament games don’t count on the teams’ regular-season league records.
Landau is putting youth to the test at the varsity level as her regular rotation is set to include several freshmen and sophomores. Senior setter Emily Heston and senior defensive specialist Hannah Dissinger are the eldest players on the team while sophomore hitter Sam Drinkard, junior hitter Whitney Artman, sophomore hitter Kyra Coffman, junior hitter Nicole Rockhold, freshman hitter Kristen Brey and freshman libero Hailey Kelly flesh out the remainder of the varsity squad to start the season.
“We didn’t play as well as I expected in the league tourney but it was nice to bounce back with a win against JCN,” Landau said. “We’ve got a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, but they don’t play like freshmen and sophomores. The girls were good about being in the weight room all summer and have been working on their volleyball since May and June.”
Landau said the talent at her disposal on the team has both her and the team shooting for higher goals.
“Really, I have the same basic philosophy I had coming in last year,” Landau said. “I wanted us to have a winning record and we accomplished that. This season we want to go a little farther, place first in some tournaments and make it to state. The girls get along pretty well, so chemistry isn’t a problem. The match versus JCN was the best match I’ve seen them play yet, so I’d say we’ve kicked off the season pretty well so far.”
Valley Falls Dragons
Coach: Seth Cooper, second year
2006 record: 16-13
Cooper saw improvement over the course of the 2006 season in his team but would have liked to go a little farther in substate than the Dragons did with an opening-round loss.
This season, the Dragons have 28 players total, including only three seniors. Main returnees for Valley Falls are senior hitter Rebekah Bunde, senior Sara Henthorne and senior Sadie Tichenor. The varsity rotation will also include a corps of juniors including Chelsy Lassiter, Whitney Lindteigen, setter Samantha Pfeffer, Emily Schneider, Kelsey Wessel and Shelbie Glissman. Another junior, Chelsey Horney, will also be in the mix when she heals from a shoulder injury.
The Dragons are off to a 5-2 start with their only losses coming to the Pleasant Ridge Rams. Cooper said the rotation is still a work in progress as he figures out which players play best in which roles.
“The girls have played a lot together, so that’s definitely a positive for us,” Cooper said. “We’ve looked good overall, although they’re a bit rusty at the start of the season. They’re playing well together as a team, though, which is important.”
In a game where the loss of composure can lead to a run of several points for the opposing team, Cooper said the mental aspect of the volleyball game has been a point of emphasis in practice leading into the start of the season.
“We wanted to work on our end-of-game mentality and building more mental toughness,” Cooper said. “We’re still finding that person who’s willing to step up and take that big swing for us when we need it. I’ve been pretty pleased so far. I like the way they’re all working together.”
Jefferson West Tigers
Coach: Sara Canseco, second year
2006 record: 13-14
Canseco has the luxury of no seniors on her 29-player squad this season, so she hopes to build a near-winning record in 2006 into winning seasons in 2007 and beyond.
Canseco did lose some senior leadership from last year’s team but a solid junior varsity team from last season has resulted in some promotions to the varsity level. One big returnee is junior Katie Bigham, who missed all of the 2006 season because of knee surgery. The varsity lineup is all juniors as Bigham is joined by hitter Audrey Mullins, setter Jenna Grimmett, hitter Hayley Hypse, Whisper Livingston and Hilary Mumaw. Even though five seniors graduated from the 2006 squad, Canseco hopes chemistry and club volleyball experience helps the team learn on the court quickly.
“We’re still deciding on a couple players here and there, and everyone is working to understand what their roles are heading into the season,” Canseco said. “Katie (Bigham) brings added knowledge from sitting on the bench last year while she was injured. It was tough for her to not play last season. I think we’ve got a lot of positives going into this season.”
That positivity is one focus Canseco has heading into her second season as head coach, as, like Cooper, she wants to improve the Tigers on the mental side of the game.
“We want to maintain a positive outlook on the court and turn around those downs into ups,” Canseco said. “Momentum is one of the biggest keys in volleyball and we want to get it swinging our way as much as possible. Things are looking great so far. I get really excited when I talk about this team and this season. All the girls seem to be friends so we’re working on gelling together as a team.”
McLouth Bulldogs
Coach: Erika Houk, first year
2006 record: 10-19
Houk takes over a squad that includes several returning starters from the 2006 version.
The Bulldogs have 24 players out for volleyball, including four seniors. The varsity rotation includes main returnees seniors Abby Annis, Leah Hoffhines, Dakotah Roberts and Sam Farris along with juniors Haley Holwick and Kasey Campbell, sophomores Miranda McLaughlin and Kylie Shufflebarger and freshmen Logan Terry and Jessie Troupe.
The Bulldogs are off to a 3-4 start after going 2-2 at the DVL tournament.
Efforts to reach Houk for comments on the team were unsuccessful.
Perry-Lecompton Kaws
Coach: Jill Bradney, first year
2005 record: 4-27
Bradney returns after a long hiatus from the job with a purpose of establishing some continuity in a position that’s undergone many personnel changes over the last few seasons.
Bradney is the third new coach in three years at PLHS but isn’t really new to the job or the district. Bradney teaches at Perry Elementary School and is in her 23rd year with the district. She served two years as a high school assistant volleyball coach before being head coach for seven years, moving to the middle school level as head coach for 12 years, and then taking last year off. With the high school head coaching job back open for this season, Bradney saw a chance to get back into coaching and also help a program in need of some TLC.
“I missed coaching during my year off from it,” said Bradney, who played softball and volleyball at the University of Kansas. “I also wanted to get a little continuity going here. I coach softball, too, and feel like that program is solid. I enjoy volleyball, so along with the administration we felt that maybe we could work on this program.”
Bradney has 28 girls out for volleyball, including four seniors. As the Kaws got into season play Aug. 30, Bradney said she had her varsity rotation pretty much set. It includes senior outside hitters Terra Gauger and Kayla Sneath, junior middle hitter Courtney Kasson, seniors Jessica Zullig and Abby Hurd, sophomore Shelby Erickson, junior Andrea Phillips and setters junior Chelsea Williams and sophomore Katie Volle. Volle will also play some at hitter.
Bradney said the move back into the high school head coaching ranks has taken some adjustment.
“My coaching philosophy hasn’t changed a lot – in my experience what makes teams successful is their grasp on the fundamentals. We’ve worked a lot on them. Some of the rules have changed since I was coaching high school last time. Basically for me it’s just adjusting back to the speed and level of play.”
Bradney’s experience as middle school coach allowed her to have most of the varsity squad at that level, so she has a basic head start on their strengths and weaknesses. She said this year’s team will be a work-in-progress but she has hopes for improvement.
“The seniors have shown a lot of leadership, and we’ve got good defensive play,” Bradney said. “Anytime there’s a change, there’s an adjustment period so I expect that. We’ve got things down to a T in softball, so we’re trying to get this program in a different gear.”
