Volleyball Previews: Changes aplenty for Tiger Cubs as Meyer steps in for Walters; Cougars looks to retool to challenge for sectional title again

A senior-studded North Putnam squad had lofty goals for the 2021 season and came within a set of claiming two titles, only denied by South Putnam in the Southmont sectional final.

To reach and surpass the 19-12 season the team had last year, which included the Putnam County tournament title, the Cougars will have to reconfigure a lineup that saw five players graduate while doing so under the direction of new head coach Jenny Herron.

“The girls are still responding well,” Herron said about taking over for Brandy Dickson, who remains on the coaching staff. “I don’t think the dynamic has changed too much though there are some things that I thought of as an assistant that we’ve made tweaks to.

“There are really no changes to the program. We’re building off of last year and what was already built.”

North Putnam returns one senior in Kylie Rust, who was part of a strong trio of front row players returning for the team.

“Kylie is my one senior and a leader by example in terms of getting stuff going at practice,” Herron said. “She’s sort of the mom of the group.

“The juniors are a talented class, even those who were ready to go last year but it wasn’t quite their time. They’re excited top get the ship going again and continue off what we did last year.”

The Cougars return several juniors in Ashleigh Riley, Phoebe Fouts, Callee Riggle, Lexi Daigle, Addi Osburn, Alexa Siff, Layci Reed and Saylor Carrell, many of whom will see increased court time while others will be asked to handle additional roles along with full rotation duties. One sophomore, Mack Mason, will be looking at getting varsity sets early in the season.

“Saylor impressed us this summer with her growth from freshman to junior year and she’s excited to be there, ready to play any position,” Herron said. “Alexa is carrying the load in the back, passing and hitting well.

“Addi is in the back row for right now but developed a lot during the summer. Ashleigh and Lexi will handle setting duties depending on whether we run a 6-2 or 5-1 as nothing is ever set in the game of volleyball.

“Defensively, Callee can play in the back or front, Layci is another we’ll be using in the back row while Kylie is fun to watch in the back. There’s never a ball she’s going 99 percent on; it wouldn’t matter if we were down 24-1, there’s not a ball she would go plowing through the bleachers to get for her teammates.”

While there will be an adjustment period needed, Herron said the squad was gelling quickly and was improving rapidly as it looks to hold on to its county title while advancing up the conference ladder and doing what it did not in last year’s sectional final.

“This group is very self-motivated and comes in every day to get better,” Herron said. “The state tournament is not tomorrow and there is a reason for this.

“The girls come in with goals each and every day and I haven’t seen a day we got worse or stayed the same, which is good to see. These girls have flashed a lot of good thins as a team and this group of kids is enjoyable to both be around and coach.”

Greencastle

Coming into the 2022 volleyball season, Greencastle was expecting there to be plenty of change as a large freshman group looked to augment a returning group that had varying levels of varsity experience.

No one expected the changes to include the head coaching role, as Maggie Walters found a new position elsewhere just before the school year started with assistant coach Denise Meyer moved up to the head coaching role just days before practices began.

“I’m happy to step in and do this and be here for the girls,” Meyer said. “(Maggie) leaving both her position in the high school and on the court is going to leave a void as these girls know her and respect her.

“I’m just trying to move in a direction she would go, get the girls in, get them working hard and continue to move forward. I’m trying to keep things the same as consistency is important for the girls to feel comfortable in the program, rather than change too much.

“(Maggie) had a good thing going and high expectations for the girls’ performance,” Meyer added. “I do things differently as we’re different people but we’re tying to keep things as similar as possible.”

Meyer, who was an assistant for the past eight season at Greencastle, said the news was a blow for the girls but also praised the group for getting up quickly and getting to work as if nothing had changed.

“The girls did great,” Meyer said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them.

“It was a shock to them as they weren’t expecting it but they came on board right away and have continued to work hard from day one.”

Greencastle returns three seniors in Caroline Gooch, Kiersten Clark and Olivia Richardville along with juniors Allie Beaman, Maddie Landry, Kylee Owens, Madi Plew and Lindy Watson.

The Tiger Cubs have only two sophomores in Kyra Bandy and Kaitlin Welker and a large freshman group including Keely Amis, Makenzie Creviston, Anna Cox, Ellie Knuth, Allie Landry, Meilani York, Jordyn Miller and Hayley Owens.

Meyer said one of the early challenges was getting the younger group integrated into the squad as the more experienced players were kept closer to their preferred roles.

“Some things are the same as I’m not moving positions around,” Meyer said. “We have a large freshman class we’re trying to get interspersed in there while keeping the upperclassmen in similar positions so they can lead comfortably.

“That’s not an easy task; we graduated a four-year starter in Anna Zellers, and Olivia doesn’t have that varsity experience as a setter. We’ve got a freshman and sophomore setter who are also looking to keep the offense moving as we move into a two-setter offense, something we would have done with Walters here as well.”

Losing Zellers, along with Juliette Tomamichel and Hannah Winters, left not only a void on the floor but in the leadership roles.

Meyer said the current senior trio was looking to find its voice, especially with such a young team in front of them.

“We had some strong leadership last year and the seniors we have now are pretty balanced in their approach of how to lead,” Meyer said. “They want to do it together and that’s important to them.

“The freshmen are also going to be a critical part of our success this season and part of that comes from the number of them we have. A good amount of them bring in experience having played not just in middle school but in the club season.

“Our goal is working on our roles and how those can be changing while supporting one another in those roles moving forward,” Meyer added.

Trying to handle all the changes was going to take time but Meyer said it was important for the girls to get on the court and get used to playing with one another in order to grow as the season progresses.

“At this point, we need a lot more reps,” Meyer said. “Some of our returners are going to see more varsity time than they did last year and while girls are going to be in similar roles, we need to get all these working pieces working together, which more reps and more sets will help.

“Where I hope we are as the season goes along is we’re further along in our discipline on the court, our composure when things aren’t going our way and are going our way and it takes time.”