Andrews – After a season in which Andrews volleyball experienced a lot of growing pains, the Lady Wildcats will have a lot more experience on the court. They graduated just two seniors, and seven of the nine players on their roster got a good amount of playing time on last year’s varsity team, which finished 2-17 overall and winless in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
“The good thing about that is there’s already a chemistry with the girls,” head coach Shanna Mustin said. “And also we don’t have to stop and talk a whole lot in where you should be in defense and what the rotation looks like because we already kind of have that in there. We have that base knowledge already so we can be more specific for preparing for our opponents.”
Mustin says this group is most experienced she’s had in “several years”, which means she’s already been able to figure out some of their strengths and weaknesses. The Lady Wildcats won’t be the biggest team on the court this fall, so they have to be sharp on defense and serve-receive.
With the experience they have coming back, Andrews’ communication looked good in their opening match of the season, a straight set win against Nantahala (25-11, 25-7, 25-6), working out some kinks as the match went along. The Lady Wildcats were never seriously challenged, dominating at the service line throughout thanks to good efforts from Addison Dartez, Carley Clark, and Americas LeQuire. Outside hitters Kylie Donaldson and Beth Shook also put a few good swings on the ball in the second and third set.
“Our goals going in here we’re to control what we could control,” Mustin said. “That’s like making serves, making a side out on a free ball, things like that. Talking, communicating. Those are all things that we can control no matter who our opponent is.”
Mustin sees senior setter Kinleigh Queen as the team’s best leader and communicator on the court, and said she’ll need a lot out of Clark as a middle hitter and Donaldson and Shook on the outside. Juniors Dartez and Ally Gibson will be relied on as defensive specialists, while senior Hannah Talkington and junior Caitlynn Thompson will see some time as hitters as well.
Andrews had good attendance at optional summer workouts as too, something Mustin thinks should help this fall. The experience will help, but it isn’t the only thing the Lady Wildcats can rely on as they try to be more competitive in the conference.
“We really stressed the importance of being here over the summer,” Mustin said. “We’ve had great attendance in optional stuff. They’re showing up and working.”
For Nantahala, Tammy Coleman is in her first year as head coach. Coleman played volleyball in high school, but this is her first time coaching the sport. Though the Lady Hawks have just seven players on this year’s squad, she’s been impressed with the way they’ve approached things so far. Nantahala finished 1-15 last year, but graduated just one senior.
The girls have been excellent to work with,” Coleman said. “They’re improving everyday. They’re coachable girls. ”
Sophomore Zoey Passmore showed some potential as both a hitter and a server against Andrews, while fellow sophomore Delaney McLean looked like she could grow into a setter that could help run the offense. Though Nantahala struggled more as the match went along, Coleman thought the team played their best in the third set. The key is to manage the nerves they have in the opening sets going forward.
“We just have to work on calming down before games and play like we’ve been practicing,” Coleman said. “That’s our main thing.”