2017 Fall Preview: Fair Grove Volleyball

fair-grove-vb

By Josh Hall

Tonya Peck has built a winning culture during her 17 years as the head coach of the Fair Grove High School volleyball team.

The Lady Eagles know what is expected of them. It doesn’t have to be discussed much, but there is one exception.

For almost every summer in the past decade, Peck has brought her team to the camp at Pittsburg State University. Players in the program often look forward to receiving an invitation to the camp years before they get one.

There’s more to the camp than just x’s and o’s for the varsity team that attends.

“Yes, we work on volleyball, but I really take them to that camp for the bonding and getting down to the heart of what we’re doing,” Peck said in a mid-July phone interview. “We have kind of un-written expectations. They’re just there. We don’t have to talk about them. We reiterate that, and I always do that during our varsity camp to really drive home what Fair Grove volleyball is all about.”

No matter who Peck puts on the floor on a given year, she expects to win. Her players have also adopted that philosophy.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS

“We have high expectations,” Peck said. “I think that’s part of the reason we’ve been successful. The girls expect it, so we work for it. That’s our goal every year.”

In the past eight seasons, Fair Grove has had four 30-plus win seasons with four district championships. The Lady Eagles have played for seven titles during that span and reached the Final Four in 2013. Fair Grove went 28-7 that year when the Lady Eagles took fourth in Class 2.

By no means was last year a down one for Fair Grove. But it was the first season since 2009 the Lady Eagles did not play for a district title. Fair Grove finished the year with a 26-7-1 record after falling to Ash Grove in a Class 2 District 12 semifinal game.

The Lady Eagles lose two key seniors from that team in first team all-Mid-Lakes Conference selection Victoria Findley and Leah Wahlquist. Fishback led the team with 343 assists and 62 aces, and was second on the team with 175 kills. Wahlquist was second in digs (211), receptions (211) and aces (43).

The good news?

“We’re pretty athletic and we have some height,” Peck said.

The Lady Eagles also bring back multiple key players from last year’s team.

Leading the way for Fair Grove is second team all-state pick Alana Findley. As a sophomore, and still relatively new to the sport, Findley led the team with 242 kills, 72 blocks and 219 digs as a middle.

“Alana is extremely athletic and loves to compete,” Peck said. “We look for her to be more of a leader on the team since she is now an upperclassman.”

A first-year varsity player last season, Shyan Proctor returns as a senior libero in 2017. Last year she led the Lady Eagles with 355 receptions and was third with 210 digs.

Second-team all-conference senior outside hitter Sierra Anderjaska recorded 122 digs, 126 receptions and 96 kills, while senior middle Taylor Bell added 89 kills and 38 blocks.

Six-foot-two junior right-side hitter Harley Maxwell is expected to be an offensive force after recording 107 kills and 24 blocks last season.

Maranntha Holliman was second on the team with 327 assists as a freshman and will be in a three-way competition to earn one of two setter positions as Fair Grove moves to a 6-2 rotation this season.

Junior defensive specialist Shannon Collins worked her way into the starting rotation at the end of the 2016 season, where she tallied 65 digs. Bailee Morgan, a sophomore outside hitter, was another freshman that worked her way into the starting lineup towards the end of the 2016 campaign.

New to the mix will be Sidney Hill (junior middle/right side), Ryah Icenhower (junior setter), Maddie Clark (sophomore setter) and Amanda Orr ( senior right side).

So far, Peck is happy with what she has seen from her team.

“The aggressiveness and the hustle is already there,” Peck said. “We hadn’t even had camp or practiced. I think that’s a good building block.”

Related Posts

Loading...