2017 Fall Preview: Camdenton Volleyball

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By Josh Hall

Camdenton High School volleyball coach Austin Walker knows she has some athletes on her team.

In May, Abbie Miller, Grace Wormek, Natalie Basham and Kylie Meier led the Lady Lakers to a Class 4 state track and field championship. Now, the same four make up Walker’s core of returning players, and she is confident they can transition that athleticism from the track to the volleyball court.

“I have always told everybody, ‘you can’t teach somebody to be athletic, but you can teach them volleyball,’” Walker said at the Licking Volleyball camp on July 13. “They know what it takes to be competitive and what it’s going to take to get to that level where we need to be.”

Camdenton went 17-12-4 last season after falling to Willard in a Class 4 District 10 semifinal game. The Lady Lakers lose six seniors from that team, including Daphne Dinsdale and Jordan Wolfe.

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Dinsdale continued her career at College of the Ozarks after earning first-team all-Ozark Conference honors. Last season, she was second on the team in assists (263), kills (209), and blocks. Wolfe was another first-team all-conference selection and is now playing at Columbia College after leading the Lady Lakers with 272 kills and 81 blocks.

Also gone from last year’s team is second-team all-conference member Blair Kurtz, who had a team-leading 422 receptions to go along with a second-best 254 digs. Tegan Shockley was another significant piece that led Camdenton with 257 digs and 37 aces, and added 334 receptions.

Despite those departures, Walker is not looking for any letdowns this season.

“Expectations this year are still really high,” she said. “It’s the same goals we’ve always had. They want to be at the top of the conference, they want to compete, and that’s what I’ve seen this summer.”

Miller (senior) returns to the setter position after recording 272 assists as a junior. Wormek was a defensive specialist last season, but has transitioned to libero for her senior year. Basham (junior) will patrol the outside, while Meier (senior) rounds out the returners for Camdenton as a right-side hitter.

New to the mix will be Madison VanderPloeg (senior outside hitter), Sara McDuffey (senior middle/outside hitter), Megan Vest (sophomore outside/middle hitter), Lizzie Miller (junior setter/opp) and Shelby Kurtz (sophomore defensive specialist).

Walker said she met with her seniors for dinner prior to the summer to discuss what they wanted to get out of the season. The message was clear. The Lady Lakers don’t want to see any drop off after graduating six seniors from a team that won 17 games while making a run at a district title.

“They just kind of said, you know, last year we lost a big group of seniors – a successful group. They don’t want to live in their shadows,” Walker said. “They want to do it themselves. They set the ball really high for themselves.”

 

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