By Chris Parker

Fall 2019 Preview: Ozark Volleyball

By Chris Parker

For the first time in a decade, Ozark volleyball is not returning to the court coming off a final four appearance. The Lady Tigers fell to Willard in three sets in the Class 4 Sectional round last year.

Now, Ozark can be more of the hunter and not the hunted for the first time in a long time.

“It will take some pressure off of Ozark Volleyball in general. It was kind of a big deal for the streak to be broken,” Ozark head coach Adeana Brewer said. “I think they can play free and relaxed.”

Ozark will rely on a strong group of upperclassmen that is largely new to the varsity floor. The Lady Tigers graduated a group of six all-conference and two all-state seniors that are all playing college volleyball.

“I have basically a brand new team on the floor this year. I have a lot of going-to-be seniors and juniors that are hungry for playing time. They have been behind some really talented players. It will be fun to watch them get into their element and see what kind of product we can put on the floor,” Brewer said.

The new group has been able to sharpen their skills practicing each day against both the class of 2019 and the talented classes that came before them.

“The (returning) players have always trained with those kind of players; those elite players. Their expectation doesn’t change. They have grown up watching success, what that looks like and what kind of hard work and dedication (it takes),” Brewer said.

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Meredith Avery returns for her senior season with the most experience on the team playing in 72 of 76 sets last year. She is a strong defensive player that had 159 digs and 188 serve-receives last season.

Hannah Tadlock will play in the middle as a junior. She saw time in 59 sets last year, and is the leading returning player in kills with 103.

Expect six-foot-two left-handed senior Ceci Westfall to be a go-to player for Ozark as both a right side and setter.

“She (Westfall) was unfortunately injured a lot as a junior. She has the physicality to really be productive for us,” Brewer said. “She will be a big impact player for us.”

Westfall had 40 kills in just 22 sets last season.

Emily Essick (outside hitter), Olivia Skipworth (defensive specialist), and Morgan Austin (setter) round out the seniors for Ozark. Austin has verbally committed to play at College of the Ozarks after graduation.

Ella Scott (right side/setter), Madison Satterly (middle/left side), Kinsey McCallister (libero) and Ally Wallace (defensive specialist) are the remaining juniors Brewer expects to impact the varsity lineup.

While Ozark doesn’t have any one star to lean on, the Lady Tigers will hope to find success collectively.

“Our message this year is going to be resilience. We are going to have to win games collectively as a team versus based on individual performances. I think we are going to have to grit-and-grind in our conference especially there are a lot of high-level volleyball players in the COC right now, which is exciting. For us to be successful I don’t think we can lean on one or two players. It is going to take all six or seven players contributing for us,” Brewer said.

Specifically, the defensive players will set the tone for the Lady Tigers.

“We are going to grit-and-grind and be resilient. To do that, our floor defense department has to be really good, and I expect us to be really good defensively,” Brewer said.

Ozark has long been one of the area’s volleyball standard-bearers, and Brewer expects her 2019 team to keep that tradition going.

“Our mentality is that we have been a winning program and we don’t expect anything less. So the kids, even though they are new, don’t expect anything less of our team. They are willing to put in the hard work and effort that it takes to create that team chemistry that we will need this year,” Brewer said.

Ozark will host Carl Junction, Glendale and Nixa for a jamboree on Aug. 26 before opening the regular season on Sept. 3 at Glendale.