The county’s six high school volleyball teams will be hard-pressed to top a 2008 season that saw three teams easily eclipse 30 wins and one place fourth at state, but the six returning coaches will do their best to lead their teams to success as season play recently began.
As in 2007, the Jefferson County North Chargers had the third-best winning percentage in the county in 2008 behind Oskaloosa and Jefferson West, but were the only squad to advance to state play before settling for fourth at the 3A state tourney in Salina. The Chargers’ final record was 35-10 and the state berth marked the school’s fourth in the last five seasons.
Oskaloosa and Jefferson West, meanwhile, were top seeds at their respective substates but faltered in the semifinals to finish with 34-6 and 33-6 records, respectively. Valley Falls saw a two-win improvement over 2007 to finish 22-16 in 2008, and McLouth turned around a losing 2007 record to go 22-15 last season. Perry-Lecompton also saw a seven-win improvement to finish 11-27 in 2008.
There were no coaching changes at the head spots among the six county teams, although McLouth is making use of a former JCN standout as an assistant under Erika Houk.
All six county schools got into action last week. Oskaloosa plays next at the Baldwin Invitational Tournament Saturday, Jefferson West will travel to Royal Valley in Hoyt tonight (Thursday) for a triangular with Holton and Royal Valley, JCN plays next in a triangular at McLouth Sept. 15, McLouth plays at the Nemaha Valley Invitational Saturday, Valley Falls plays next at a triangular with Troy and Kansas City Christian Sept. 15, and Perry-Lecompton plays host to Bishop Ward and Eudora in a triangular tonight.
Following are capsule previews of each team entering this season in order of their finish last season.
Oskaloosa Bears
Coach: Tosha Landau, fourth year
2008 record: 34-6
Landau lost a couple key components from a very good 2008 squad but has a mixture of experienced youth and seasoned upperclassmen back to make another run at a state berth.
Gone are seniors Nicole Rockhold, Whitney Artman and Keri Heston, but Landau does return four starters. Her squad of 16 players includes only two seniors.
The OHS varsity rotation includes senior right hitter Kyra Coffman, who was lost late last season to a knee injury but has returned, senior left hitter Allison Lloyd, sophomore middle hitter Haley Pfau, junior libero Hailey Kelly, junior left hitter Kristen Brey, sophomore middle hitter Rachel Schmanke, sophomore setter Jordan Miller, sophomore back row specialist Brooke Beach and junior Jessie Beach.
“I think we have good offense and a lot of good hitters, plus an experienced libero and a really good setter who’s only a sophomore,” Landau said. As of Sept. 4 the team was 2-0 in the early going. “We’re a young team and don’t have as much experience as others may, but the girls are very talented.”
Landau said she looked for the Delaware Valley League to be competitive this season. She’s hoping the team’s athleticism and chemistry can combine to form a good follow-up season to another near miss at substate a year ago.
“We have a lot of athletic girls,” Landau said. “They work well together and have good chemistry, which makes a difference. I know we have quite a few new coaches in the league, so I have no idea how it’s gonna go. I know we have some hard workers and they were in the weight room together this summer getting ready. The best thing is that they all know they have a part to play and they do their best to play it. We don’t have anybody expecting to be the star.”
Jefferson West Tigers
Coach: Sara Becker, fourth year
2008 record: 33-6
Becker has the numbers but has some rebuilding work to do as only two starters return from last year’s standout team.
There are 33 girls out for volleyball at West, which is up from 31 a year ago, but 13 are freshman while 20 are in the junior varsity and varsity mix. There are four seniors on this year’s team.
Becker said the varsity squad was a work in progress coming off a season-opening West Invitational that saw the Tigers go 1-4.
“There’s a lot of room for competition this year,” she said.
Seniors on the team include libero Morgan Scott, setter Marissa Goodrich, right hitter BriAnna Ploude and Kaitlin West. The rest of the varsity mix includes junior hitter Jessica Wells, junior setter Monica Sanders, junior middle hitter Danielle Steffey, sophomore Marci Greene, junior defensive specialist Cece Liby and junior left hitter Taryn Brees.
“Up until last Friday (Aug. 28) we were still figuring out who was going to be on varsity,” Becker said. “This is kind of a rebuilding year, so we’ll see how it goes. Next year we should be really good too.”
Becker said she expects ACCHS and Holton to be the class of the Big Seven but thinks her team should be competitive down the stretch as the group progresses.
“Definitely, although we started off slow, we can be competitive down the stretch,” Becker said. “Right now I’d say our strength is our defense, especially on the back row. We’ve got pretty solid defensive players, and they make good reads. We’ve got some big kids, too, but we’re working on coordination.”
Becker said she and the team were disappointed with their showing at the home invitational but she did note some ground to build on.
“This is the ultimate team game,” Becker said. “The main thing is that, as hard as it is to come out 1-4, it didn’t really show how well we played. We were right there with all the teams, so it showed we’re not that far away.”
JCN Chargers
Coach: Jeremy Gish, ninth year
2008 record: 35-10
Gish made his fourth trip to state in eight years as North’s coach with the 2008 squad and hopes a squad trying to rebound from some injuries can keep the good times rolling in the Charger program.
North’s group of 25 players includes six seniors and four returning starters. Key varsity contributors Lisa Weishaar, Amelia Noll and Devin Gigstad were lost to graduation, but senior setter Sara Navinskey is back from a knee injury suffered during last basketball season, and junior middle hitter Jordyne Seichepine returns along with 2008 starters junior Kelsey Deviney and senior hitter Molly Lyon.
The rest of the varsity mix for JCN includes senior libero Sara Peres, who has also suffered a knee injury in the past, junior hitter Katie Noll, senior Beth Anne Brickell, senior back row specialist Krista Weishaar, and sophomore hitter Jordan Kramer. Another senior who played on last year’s squad, Lexie Kiser, suffered a knee injury and is out for the season.
“There are a lot of factors that go into how successful you can be,” Gish said. His team is off to a nice start (through Sept. 3) at 6-1. “We had an opportunity to lose a couple more matches there in our first tournament but the girls pulled them out. I think we’re still trying to find ourselves a little bit.”
Gish agreed that the DVL is anybody’s to win this season.
“It’s hard to get a grasp on the league this season for some reason,” Gish said. “Overall I think the league is stronger than it’s been.”
Gish points to experience as the main strength for the Chargers.
“We have four starters coming back from a team that went to state, so that’s obviously a strength,” he said. “They showed that by not tensing up in a couple close games early on.”
Despite the change in personnel, the goal is again the same at JCN.
“It’s still our goal to get to state and see what we can do, but we’ll see what happens,” Gish said. “So far, we still have a lot of work to do, so it’s hard to judge. The record is a positive at this point but I don’t think we look like a state team right now. If we improve the way I know we can, we’ll definitely have an opportunity.”
McLouth Bulldogs
Coach: Erika Houk, third year
2008 record: 22-15
A former Oskaloosa Bear in Houk has brought in a former JCN Charger in assistant Jessica Seichepine to help try to get the McLouth team to the next level with the most returning experience in the county.
The Bulldogs improved by eight wins in 2008 to post a winning record and return eight girls who started at some point last season on this year’s squad. The Bulldogs have 20 players out with five seniors.
The headliner returnee is 2008 Lawrence Journal-World area player of the year senior hitter Kylie Shufflebarger, but she is joined by returnees senior hitter Cassidy Bristol, senior setter and hitter Courtney Chilcoat, senior hitter Taylor Rush, and senior hitter Alexa DePriest. The rest of the varsity includes junior setter Jeri Holwick, junior libero Logan Terry, junior defensive specialist Katy Perry, junior hitter and back row specialist Jessie Troupe, and sophomore hitter Terri Stewart.
“We should be very strong this year,” Houk said. “This group has played varsity together the last two years, plus some club volleyball, so they work well together.”
The Bulldogs are off to a middling start at 4-3 but Houk is optimistic about the team’s chances in an even DVL.
“We’ve played well, but the girls just need to finish,” Houk said. “The number one thing they need is to learn to have confidence going out to win, rather than to not lose.”
The addition of Seichepine, who was a member of a state team at JCN before going on to play in college, adds more strength in experience to the coaching staff. Houk said the team knows if they can bring it all together, this could be a special year for the Bulldogs.
“They know this is their year to shine,” Houk said. “Confidence will be a huge factor for us. The girls have been working really hard, so I’ve been hapy so far. They’ve taken these early matches and I think we’ve learned from it.”
Valley Falls Dragons
Coach: Seth Cooper, fourth year
2008 record: 22-16
The Dragons also for a second straight year have some strength in numbers with 28 girls out for volleyball, including six seniors.
Despite the good numbers, Cooper has only three returnees that saw major playing time for the Dragons in 2008.
Leading the way are seniors hitter Bethany Myers, setter Brenna Lane, libero Jessica Landman, hitter Bailey Sherretts, hitter Hannah Navinskey, and hitter Courtney Watson. They will be joined in the varsity rotation by junior hitter Abbey Kearney, junior setter Jade Edmonds and junior hitter Kaitlyn Speer.
“We’re still figuring out who goes where,” said Cooper. The Dragons are 2-5 to start the season. “I think our hitting should be a strength along with our defense.”
Cooper said the team already ran into experienced groups that should be among the tops in the DVL this season.
“We’ve still got to work on our serving and passing,” he said. “I’d like to think we can be better than how we started.”
Last year’s 22-win mark was a two-win improvement over 2008 and Cooper said his team just needs to get up to varsity speed, as although the upperclassmen are in place, they weren’t able to get a great deal of varsity experience.
“We played with the good teams at times early on,” he said. “I think this group can be better about getting over mistakes and putting them behind us and move on. Once the girls figure out how fast the game moves at the varsity level, they’ll be better off, but they have to gain some experience and play together to do that. I think we’ll get better as the season goes along.”
Perry-Lecompton Kaws
Coach: Jill Bradney, third year
2008 record: 11-27
Bradney is in her 10th year overall as head coach at Perry-Lecompton, although this three-year stint is 13 years removed from the first seven years of her tenure at PLHS.
The Kaws won double-digit games for the first time in a while in 2008 after three straight seasons with only four victories. This year’s squad has 26 girls out with a group of six seniors.
The Kaw varsity includes seniors Shelby Erickson, Katie Volle, Jessica Christman, Shea Visser, Caitlin Callahan and Amber Smith. Junior Abbey Bays, sophomores Sierra Morgison and Josey Hurd and freshman Jordan Erickson are also in the varsity mix.
The Kaws are 1-1 after defeating Piper and falling to Jefferson West in their first triangular of the season.
Efforts to reach Bradney for comment on the team were unsuccessful.
