By Josh Hall (Josh.hall@ky3.com)
The Ava High School volleyball team will be young this season.
And while it might take the Lady Bears a few matches to get acclimated to the varsity level, ninth-year head coach Sarah Roy believes her team might surprise some teams this season.
“Our struggle will be inexperience,” Roy said at a camp in June. “We’ll have to figure that out, but the young kids I have coming out are pretty versatile and they know the game really well.”
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS
Ava loses Shelby Bolshong, Ceva Longino, and Sandra bluff from last year’s team that went 7-17-3 after falling to Mountain Grove in the first round of the Class 3, District 11 tournament.
But the Lady Bears also return some key players that could be difference-makers in 2017.
“The freshmen that will be playing have been playing club ball with our program since sixth grade,” Roy said. “I think we’ll struggle here and there. We’ll be a little hit or miss until some of the younger kids get some confidence and get a little bit of a feel for a faster game than what they’ve been used to. But I think we’ll surprise some people with what we’ll be able to do.”
Returning from last year is Lauren Mendel (junior OH), Kathrin Buff (senior OH) and Claire Fossett (sophomore M).
New to the mix is Kate McDonald (junior L), Olivia Heriford (sophomore M) and Sarah Wolfenbarger (freshman S).
“They just like to play,” Roy said. “I think they are going to be rattled a little here and there, but once they get the first couple of games under their belt, I think they’ll do a lot of good.”
The drive to want to improve their game is what impresses Roy the most about her underclassmen.
“They just want to play,” Roy said. “They hustle harder than a lot of my older kids. That’s why a lot of my younger kids will see playing time – just because they out-hustle some of our older kids.”
DOWNLOAD THE NEW O-ZONE APP NOW!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FOR APPLE
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID
