Grand Island girls volleyball team looks for Head start

by Eric Keppeler
Grand Island Dispatch, September 15, 2006

John Head says there are plenty of differences.

After coaching the Grand Island junior varsity girls volleyball team for the past three years, he has moved up to take the helm of the varsity for the 2006 season. And while he says that the strategy of the coaching isn’t very different, there are a lot of elements of the varsity game that some of his players have to get used to.

“The level of play is much higher,” said Head, who also coaches a club volleyball squad during the off-season. “The quickness is much faster, and the younger players have a harder time getting used to that more than anything else.”

Fortunately for Head, he’s got a fair crop of returning players from last season - and he knows the rest from his time with the junior varsity.

The veterans are the key, he said.

“It’s helpful because we know the level of play and we can help the girls coming up,” said senior captain Courtney Donovan, a three-year varsity vet at middle hitter. “I think we need to put it all together at game time. We work on all of the pieces during practice - now we need to put it into action.”

The Vikes finished 6-8 last season, good for fifth place in the Niagara Frontier League. They then strung together a bit of a winning streak through the sectional playoffs that carried them all the way to the semifinals before the season came to an end.

The players hope that success carries over into this season.

“It’s a new team, but we know where we finished up last year, and we know we want to get back there,” Donovan said. “So we have that goal in mind.”

The experience is key as Grand Island returns five players with significant starting experience from last season. Donovan and fellow captain Julie Pangborn say they do their best to help out the younger players.

“It means a lot,” said Pangborn, also a middle hitter. “I think everyone should be like a captain on the floor, but as a captain I have to set an even better example. We need to get mentally into the game a little more. You have to know where you are and what position to be in, where the ball’s going - everything.”

Also returning are senior setter Ashley Kippley, senior outside hitter Ashley Ray and junior outside hitter Haley Breier.

Head will do his best to work the youngsters into the matches, and he has plenty to choose from with junior hitters Tiffani Dickinson, Julia Fleming, Lisa Mager, Jessica Oyer, Alex Peters and Nicole Stickl. He’s also got sophomores Susan Pioli and Lexi Raepple.

The Vikings are making progress, but Head thinks there’s still room for improvement.

“Our hitting is pretty good, but our passing isn’t where it needs to be,” Head said. “And our defense is about the same as the passing. We’re still a step slow - the blocking is pretty good, but the back row has to be quicker. We’d like to improve on last year and finish in the top half of the league. That’s the minimum goal. Then maybe go a little deeper into sectionals.”