Lady T-Bird volleyball coach Summer Younie knows her team has some rebuilding to do this season. Losing seven seniors can do that to a team.
“We lost seven seniors last year, and seven that played quite a bit too,” she said. “So we’re trying to fill some holes. We have seven seniors out this year, but only three of them have major varsity experience.”
Leah McPherson, Tia Gilleece and Ashton Lee are the three with significant varsity experience. The team will lean on their leadership as they try and bring up some of the younger girls.
Some of the younger girls include Kaitlyn Swonger, Morgan Flowers and Ashley Koirth. Unfortunately, Koirth is currently dealing with an ankle injury, which adds another question mark to Younie’s proposed lineup. Younie said she has several players learning new positions and exercising their versatility so far this season.
“Kaitlyn Swonger, she was kind of our go-to versatile person for us last year as a sophomore,” she said. “She started the season playing the right side because of injuries, but she also played some left side and middle. So she’ll play middle for us, at least at the beginning of the season.”
Another pair of seniors, Whitney Renner and Rosena Startzman, will also look for playing time as they continue to improve their game.
“Whitney Renner has been working hard in the middle trying to get her footwork down, as well as the right side,” she said. “Rosena Startzman is another varsity suiter-upper from last season. She injured her ankle during the track season last year and was in a walking boot forever, until mid July. So she’s still trying to get comfortable, especially at the net.”
Regardless of who takes the court for Skyline, the T-Birds are going to be small. Younie doesn’t see that slowing her team down, however.
“Our strength is going to be defense,” she said. “We’re a little weak offensively. We’re short other than our middle spot, but defensively, we’re fast and we control the ball pretty well. It’s going to save us – I hope.”
The T-Birds have one home tournament and one home match this season, offering parents and fans a chance to watch the varsity team.
“We have a home tournament over Labor Day weekend, and Pratt High is in that,” she said. “St. John, Stafford, Macksville, a bunch of area teams will be in that. Then we have quite a few home JV days, but only one home varsity day, on Sept. 21. We do have a tournament in Greensburg, and a tournament in Great Bend.”
