By Chris Parker
Cabool volleyball has a new head coach in Erica Spittler taking over this year. Spittler began her coaching career at Summersville where she was an assistant for one year and head coach for two. She then spent four years at Junction Hill as an assistant before a two-year stint as an assistant at Cabool. Last year she was an assistant at Liberty.
“I am very excited to come back to Cabool. I saw an opportunity. My husband is a coach at Cabool, and my children really liked the atmosphere, and wanted to return. There is a lot of potential in Cabool, I just hope I can push them enough to bring it to the court,” Spittler said.
She takes over a Cabool program that went 15-18-2 last year, which snapped a streak of seven straight seasons over .500. Just three seniors graduated from last year’s squad, but they were a quality group led by first-team all-conference selection Hailey Shannon. Fellow all-conference selection Alexis Hunter also graduated. That duo led Cabool in kills last year by accounting for 624 of the team’s 793 kills on the season.
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Makalah Watson is the lone returning all-conference player. The senior was named honorable mention all-conference in 2021. Watson had 54 kills with 31 aces, 316 digs and 398 receptions. She will play outside hitter this year.
“Watson has good court awareness, and will be a great leader for our team,” Spittler said.
Hannah Janson (junior middle), Remington Supancic (senior outside hitter) and Lakaya Reece (junior libero) also return this year.
Janson brings a strong presence in the middle standing at 6-feet tall. Supancic returns to the varsity team this year. Reece will be moving to libero after leading the team in assists last year.
“Reece has been a setter the past few years, but has been moved to libero, where she has definitely found her niche,” Spittler said. ‘She is quick, tough, and doesn’t make excuses; she goes hard.”
Cabool will look to be relentless on defense this year.
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“Our biggest strength this year will be our defense,” Spittler said. “We move quickly and play scrappy. That will help us against some bigger teams we will play.”
Freshmen Sophia Dotson (middle) and Cambree Woodard (outside hitter) will contribute on varsity right away.
Cabool opens the season on Aug. 30 at home against Bakersfield.
“My expectations for the team are set high,” Spittler said. “I expect them to play hard, and finish every game.”
