MAUPIN – All-state middle blocker Jada Myers looks around the gymnasium and sees a lot of familiar faces and several new ones.
Although the landscape is much different than a year ago, the senior is not making any excuses — she is even more motivated to help the South Wasco County Redsides win a championship.
“It is definitely going to be different,” Myers said. “We lost three of our starters, so we are going to have to get used to playing with different people. We are trying some new things out that we are not used to that are outside of our comfort zone a little bit, but hopefully we can develop the basic skills, give 110-percent and play together and have a good outcome.”
In 2014, the Lady Redsides posted a record of 4-13, won 23 sets and lost a district play-in match in five sets to Arlington.
Fast forward to last fall, SWC made a complete turnaround under the coaching of Donna Barton and increased every statistical category, jumping to a 25-10 overall record and a No. 8-ranking, with 70 sets won, a first-ever volleyball district championship and a sixth-place finish at the 1A state tournament in Redmond.
With the retirement of Barton, Crystal Pechanec era is set to begin with high hopes for a program that is headlined by three seniors, Myers, Kyrsten Sprouse and Madisen Davis, and five juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen.
On the roster with the seniors are: juniors Jenna Wraught, Laurynn Davis, Sydney Ferguson, Kyla Frederick; and freshmen Holly Miles and Hailey Anderson.
Ally Ware, Jade McCoy, Abby Silvey and Jennifer Best make up the sophomores.
Keeping the winning pace is going to be tough without Allie Noland, Ana Popchock, Jacqueline Noland and Emily Ellis, but Madisen Davis said there is no added pressure to meet or surpass last season’s accomplishments.
“I know there is a lot of pressure from parents and spectators, especially with how well we did last year and how far we were able to go as a team,” Davis said.
“We did lose a couple of seniors, but I think that we have really strong players coming up who are stepping forward and filling those spots.
“I think our main plan of action is to set little goals for ourselves and work toward the main goal that we have set and not worry about anyone else’s expectations. We need to work as a team and build a strong team relationship and see how far that can take us.”
Allie Noland and Myers were first-team all-Big Sky Conference winners and all-state honorable mention picks, Popchock was a second-team winner, and both Jacqueline Noland and Sprouse each added honorable mention awards.
The Noland sisters were stalwarts as setters, so replacing 442 kills is at the top of the team’s list.
During the 2017 season, Myers slammed down a team-leading 270 kills on 603 of 690 swings with just 87 errors and Sprouse was third on the Redside squad with 179 kills on 464 of 569 swings, and she went 202 for 219 on serves for 92 percent.
Madisen Davis served at 85 percent, making good on 227 of 267, and she tacked on 92 kills on 263 of 315 swing tries for a .127 percentage.
“Hailey and Holly coming in that are, overall, just really strong players in the back row and at the net,” Sprouse said.
“We have a solid team this year, so our setters are still working at it. I think it will be a couple of weeks before they start understanding the hitters and what they like, but I think they are going to be great. I don’t think we have to worry about anything.”
There will be an adjustment phase under Pechanec and assistants Carly Johnson, Susie Miles and Shelley Iverson, but Sprouse says the focus is on speeding up the learning process and the team hitting its stride when the important matches come up in October.
“Crystal has a lot of the same views as Donna (Barton),” Sprouse. “It is nice to hear something new. For some people, they loved the way Donna taught and they learned from her, and the way that Crystal is teaching is also helpful to other people too. We are getting different views, which opens up our horizons, so we know more. It has been a lot of fun. Crystal is a great coach and I look forward to working with her more.”
As one of three seniors, Madisen Davis is going to go about the same process she was shown from her contemporaries in her first three volleyball seasons.
She can now pass down those tidbits to the inexperienced players and the process can continue.
“Coming into high school, I had a lot of strong leaders,” Davis said. “As a freshman, we had great seniors playing with us and last year, we had great senior leaders.
“Just being able to sit behind and watch and learn from them has really helped in the transition for our seniors. It has made it a lot easier for myself, Kyrsten and Jada, so we can just step in and fill those roles. I think it is going to be a little bit different, but I think we have some very strong leaders and it will be pretty good.”
SWC hosts Joseph at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30 for its season opener.
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