With the 2019 prep volleyball season just around the corner, here is our preview for the 2A and 1A programs for Grays Harbor area high school teams.
Elma Eagles
In the 2018 campaign, Elma had its season ended with a straight sets loss to King’s Way Christian when the Eagles were just one win shy of qualifying for state.
Elma will bring a senior-heavy roster on to the court this year with only two of last year’s players graduating.
Kill leader Jalyn Sackrider will return for her senior year after putting 237 kills last season on a 44.1 percent kill percentage to make her one of the biggest offensive threats on the team.
In addition to the height the 6-foot-3 Sackrider will provide at middle blocker, Elma also has some help returning at outside hitter with Kali Rambo and Quin Mikel.
In their junior years, Rambo and Mikel were second and third on the team in kills with 166 and 157, respectively.
Elma head coach Kendra Dunn said she is looking forward to having seven seniors on the court heading into the season.
“I’m really excited for all of our seniors. I think this is a special year. My first year was their freshman year so it’s been kind of special for us. The seniors are fun to watch and I think it’s going to be a really great year for them.”
The experienced roster has also been having an impact on what the Eagles have been focusing on in practice.
The practices at the start of the school year haven’t been as focused on the basics as the roster is dominated by upperclassmen who are familiar with Dunn’s style of play.
“We’re really excited for this year. We’re just going to keep building on what we did last year since most of our returners are back,” Dunn said. “We’re going to focus on some new things and incorporate more into what we have been doing and focus on the little things that are going to make us better.”
In addition to the senior talent, Elma also has depth with some of the younger players. Sarah Bridge still figures to get significant playing time at middle blocker and other positions while sophomores Kylie Rambo and Emma Peters could also fight for a spot on the court.
Dunn said she has a pretty good idea of what her starting line up will look like but is still encouraging her players to compete for their playing time.
“Just because you were here last year doesn’t mean you get your same spot back. They have to fight for it every day and we really try to compete within our team to make us better,” Dunn said. “Whoever shows up and works hard is going to earn the spot.”
Elma is hoping to earn another league title but the ambitions don’t stop there for Elma. The Eagles are looking to earn a trip to Yakima after falling one win short of their goal last season.
“They’ve set the goal of going to state and reach those some goals that we’ve been trying to work for the past couple of years,” Dunn said.
Montesano Bulldogs
A new coach has a new strategy in mind for the Bulldogs this year.
Patrick Pace replaced Renee Volz in the offseason and is looking to make some adjustments to the roles his players will take on.
Over the past few years Montesano has run a single-setter rotation that uses five hitters and one setter. Pace would like to employ a two-setter rotation that uses two different setters, with one in the front row and the other in the back row.
The new strategy also means new positions for some of the players on a roster full of experience.
Jessica Stanfield and Emma Jensen will move to outside hitter from backside hitter. Pace also plans to have dedicated back row players with Mylaina Parker staying at the libero position and joined by McKenna Wecker and Carly Bradbury.
Pace said the players have been selfless in their response to the position changes.
“I’m excited about this season because the girls themselves have a lot of energy when they come to practice and they haven’t asked any questions, they’ve gone out there and they’re competing,” he said. “The whole idea this year is to play as a team and everybody has stepped into their role with no complaints.”
Along with the returning talent from last year’s roster, the Bulldogs will also be getting a boost with the return of a player from the 2017 roster.
Zoe Hutchings will return to volleyball after taking last year off from the sport. Hutchings, who stands at 6-foot-3, was playing middle blocker and will be one of the many players switching positions as she moves from middle blocker to backside hitter.
Pace is looking forward to having the extra height on the court.
“You can’t coach height. You can coach the player but to have someone that steps in at 6-foot-3? That’s nice,” he said.
With Hutchings moving from her normal position in front of the net, freshman McKinnley Dalan and senior Emma Kahler will be the primary players responsible for the middle blocker position.
Pace is more wildly known for his success as Montesano’s softball coach as he has led the program to the state tournament each of the last 22 seasons.
Pace said he sees some parallels between his softball program and the recent success of Elma’s volleyball program that has won the 1A Evergreen two years straight.
“Elma has to realize that they’ve set a standard and they are the team to beat. (Montesano softball) knows how that feels. When (former Monte coach) Debbie Gibson coached that’s how she felt, everybody was always out to get her teams,” he said. “Congratulations to Kendra (Dunn) to get to that point and now they’ve got to watch their back because everybody is looking to beat them. It’s going be exciting.”
Aberdeen Bobcats
It’ll be a rebuilding year for the Bobcats but the coaching staff is excited to see how far the younger players can progress over the course of the season.
The Bobcats went 4-11 last year with only two of those victories coming against a league opponent as the veteran roster of 2018 struggled.
Aberdeen lost six players to graduation, six of them being regular rotational players.
As a result, a bit of a vacuum has opened up at a number of positions which has created some intense competition for playing time in practices over the summer.
“We have five starting positions opened up from last year so we have a competition right now basically for all positions,” Aberdeen head coach Doug Basler said. “It’s been really good because it’s created competition in practice which has been fun to see”
Basler went on to say he doesn’t see this year’s younger roster as a bad thing and is looking forward to working with an energetic group.
“I’m very excited about the new group of girls,” he said. “They have a lot of energy and they’re very competitive and they want to get better. I think all of those are good characteristics.”
Chantheada No spent a lot of time on junior varsity as a sophomore but will be asked to step into a more prominent role on varsity this season.
No primarily played in the back row on JV and could see her offensive load increased as she sees playing time at outside hitter.
The lone senior on the roster will be Kennedy Pruett, who will stay at middle blocker this season and figures to be a key component of the team’s ability to score.
Basler said his team’s ability to score is going to be predicated on Pruett causing disruptions to the opposing team’s offense with her presence at the net.
“We want to be very intentional about keeping the other team out of their system,” he said. “Kennedy is a middle which means we’ve got to be able to pass well to use her as much as possible. She has the ability to dominate, but we need to be able to get her the ball.”
The coaching staff is more focused on the development of its players than where the team lands in the standings.
Regardless of what the scoreboard reads, Basler is confident his players will bring a high level of energy to every match.
“I’m going to be as curious as everybody else is to see how things turn out this season,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of competitive drive that will serve us in the long run but there is going to be a learning curve at the beginning of the season.”
Hoquiam Grizzlies
Hoquiam is going into a rebuilding year and hopes to give their young core some experiencing this season.
The Grizzlies took a more experience group of players into the postseason last year before they were ultimately eliminated by Elma in the consolation bracket in the district tournament.
Six players were lost to graduation at the end of the season leaving a group of four sophomores who are expected to get regular playing time in the 2019 campaign.
Grizzlies head coach Heather Bozich said this year’s group has the right attitude to make some major strides against the stiff competition in the league.
“We’re kind of rebuilding but they are extremely hard workers. They are actually a lot louder than they were last year,” she said. “It’s a very positive team. We have a great group of girls this year.”
Magdelena Mazariegos will be providing some senior leadership to the young squad as the opposite hitter is one of three seniors returning this year.
Also expected to take on a larger role this year is libero Hailee Lawerence who served as a back up at that position to ReyLynn Dunn who is one of the six Grizzlies the team lost to graduation.
Bozich said that her starting libero has already shown signs of leadership in off season practices.
“Even though she is a junior, she is such a leader on the court. She’s the loudest one out there and she flies around the court,” she said. “She is going to be incredible this year.”
It wasn’t just senior leadership the Grizzlies lost with last year’s graduating players. The older players on last year’s team were also among the tallest on the roster leaving the 2019 Grizzlies with only one player listed six feet or taller with middle blocker Carsyn Munger.
Due to the lack of size up front, Bozich said that her team will have to use more finesse and focus more on ball placement when looking for kills.
“We will have to change our strategy this year. We’re not going to be as tall so we’re going to have to be defensive minded and creative offensively,” she said. “They’re doing a really good job of that and working really hard at creating their shots. Defensively we’re going to have to be ready to play.”
With Elma and Montesano both boasting experienced rosters this season, the Grizzlies could face an uphill climb as they look to compete with two of the stronger teams in the area.
However, based on how things have gone in summer work outs, Bozich thinks her team can compete with any team in the 1A Evergreen.
“Elma and Montesano will probably be the top of the league, but we’re going to do our best. We played them in summer league and we competed really well so I think we can give them a good run defensively.”
Elma’s Jalyn Sackrider goes for a spike at practice on Tuesday. Sackrider led the Eagles with 237 kills last season. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
