STARKVILLE — Coming off the best finish in program history, the Starkville High School volleyball team will have to replace eight seniors.
Starkville lost to DeSoto Central in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class III North State championship last season to finish 22-11.
Coach Lauren Love relied on the seniors in the playoff run, but this year there will be new players stepping into the roles left by the likes of Khris Carr and Vicky Vo. On Saturday, Love will get a chance to see who might take leadership roles on the team when Starkville plays exhibition matches in Tupelo against host Tupelo and Madison Central. Match times are set for 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively. The regular season will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Olive Branch at home.
“I’m very comfortable with these girls,” Love said. “They’ve been a part of the program for awhile and they’ve grown up in the system and we’re not necessarily thinking about, ‘Oh, looked who we’ve lost.’ It’s like, ‘Wow, look at our team now.’ ”
Carr had 331 kills last season and will play at Mississippi State, while Vo will take her 495 assists to Belhaven. Along with Carr and Vo, Starkville lost Taylor Price, Anna Shaw, Nicole Wood, Courtney Wilson, Kayla Minor, and Shelby Adair.
This season, the Jackets have six seniors. April Reese, Tanita Thompson, Emily Woomer, and Abigail Wise have the most experience and will be the players Love turns to for leadership.
“Those players we lost were really great leaders,” Reese said. “This year, we have a lot of younger (players), so we really have to work on our leadership skills and showing that amount of effort that it takes to be a good team.”
Reese, a middle blocker and outsider hitter, was second on the squad last season with 225 kills in 94 sets played, giving her 2.4 kills per set. She had a kill percentage of 39.3 percent and was second on the team with 180 digs. She led the team with 25 blocks.
Last year’s finish is fueling the Yellow Jackets this year. The team worked hard in the summer to prepare for the start of practice Monday.
“I’m impressed by how far we’ve come together as a team,” said Woomer, a right-side hitter. “We really worked together and hustled. I can see us going far as a team.”
Wise, who also is listed as a right-side hitter, will see playing time at middle blocker.
Thompson is making the transition from right-side hitter to outside hitter. She started that move in the summer, but she admits she’s not there yet.
“I had to change my approach,” Thompson said. “I just have to focus on the ball. Sometimes I have to wait on the set. Sometimes if it’s a shorter set, I have to go faster.”
Love, who played a defensive specialist, or libero, at Tennessee, understands the setbacks in changing positions. She wants Thompson to get on the same page with her teammates.
“It’s just a matter of cohesion and jelling together,” Love said. “We’re trying to do that with everybody on the team. When that happens, when Tanita has her footwork just as everybody else takes care of the little things they need to do, I think together we can be very successful.”
Anna Coleman and Jasmine Rogers are the other seniors. The roster also features juniors Kelsey Jones, Kennis Kingery, Shunderika Fason, and Tybra Windsor.
For the seniors, this is their last chance and they have talked about bettering last year’s finish.
“It’s their turn. They’ve worked hard for it, and they deserve it,” Love said. “We’re looking forward to this season and what the girls can do on the court.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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