Ark Valley News - Freshman volleyball continues to struggle

Freshman volleyball continues to struggle
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: October 01, 2015

With Valley Center's varsity and junior varsity having the night off, it was the freshmen front and center this week. Unfortunately, the youngest Hornets won just one of five matches, which dropped their overall record to 4-7.

Valley's only win this week came in the Goddard freshman tournament Sept. 26. The Hornets handled Wichita North 25-4 and 25-10, but came up short against Newton (19-25, 23-250 and Campus (21-25, 16-25).

Faith Stacy had nine kills against Newton, while Abigail Weldon dug 15 balls against Campus.

"I'm proud of the way the girls reacted to a new rotation," said coach Kaitlin Woellhof. "Destini (McNeil) wasn't able to play due to an injury, so Sara Jung really stepped up and did some good things in the middle. Abigail Weldon had a great tournament, picking up everything in the back row, and is really starting to be able to read the hitters."

In a Sept. 24 quad at Andover Central, the Hornets lost to Campus (15-25, 19-25) and Newton (25-22, 11-25, 7-15) but posted a 9-25, 25-21, 15-12 win over the host Jaguars.

"It was nice to end the quad with a win," Woellhof said. "We worked on blocking and being more aggressive at the net, and I'm starting to see them use those skills in games. Destini McNeil had a great night and did some big things for us in the front row."

Neither the varsity nor the JV have played since Sept. 22, which equated to more practice time.

Varsity coach Holly Rutter said practices have been OK, and the extra time has been helpful for the 11-9 Hornets.

"Happy to have some practices strung together to dive in a little bit more than usual," she said. "Additional practices will help to do some extra individual work and a longer time to work on things we really need to work on without wearing them out too much."

Rutter said the Hornets have been working mostly on defense, serve receive and footwork. She also has them practicing game-type scenarios they have struggled with this season.

"We … started working on situations where they will either be up or down, and have to push and win or come back and win," she said. "This will help us with the mental aspect of the game, hopefully."

Although Rutter is not happy with the Hornets' inconsistent play thus far, she does see a silver lining.

"Like I told them, I am glad they haven't peaked," she said. "They should only get better from here and look forward to seeing that high point that hasn't developed yet."

As with most coaches, Kyrie McKee is not satisfied with the JV's 7-6 record.

"I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, because we know what we need to do to win," she said. "We know our downfalls and we have seen them nice and clear in some of the matches we have played against some of our tougher opponents."

McKee said the Hornets have been working a lot on net play, designed to give the middles more reps.

"This is only Madison Runnion's second year playing volleyball. She has made huge strides, but there are just little things we work on so that she will become that dominant middle blocker," McKee said. "Our other middle, Kristen Coon, is a freshman. The transition from eighth grade to JV can be a big one, and play at the net is much faster up here."

Looking ahead —- The varsity and JV will host Cheney and Wichita Collegiate Oct. 1, and the junior varsity's tournament is Oct. 3. Both teams will travel to Maize South Oct. 6 for a triangular with Andover and the Mavericks. The freshmen play in a quad Oct. 1 at Goddard, along with Andover Central and Andover.