Holcomb volleyball squad hopes to benefit from size and veteran leadership
The Holcomb Hornets volleyball program is blessed with experience entering the 2019 season.
Holcomb has three seniors and five juniors on its varsity roster.
Five of the eight players saw significant playing time on last season’s varsity squad that finished 10-16-4 and won Class 1, District 1.
“All of our girls have seen the varsity floor in the past,” Holcomb first-year volleyball coach Matt Casper said. “I expect a lot out of them. Me coming in trying to build on what they did last year is a little tasking for them because I’m learning the game as well with them. But I feel like if we get better at passing the ball we will be a pretty solid team. Just like any other sport, it all starts with playing defense and getting that initial pass to set everything else up.”
Casper said he expects Hannah Burk, Bailey Cupples, Macy Houart, Abby Hellebusch, Sarah Williams, and Jessica Burress to serve as hitters. Kelsi Tucker is expected to play the libero position with Addy McClendon serving as the primary setter.
Holcomb is blessed with its fair share of size at the net.
McClendon says the extra length makes her job much easier as the setter.
“It helps out a lot,” she said. “My sets need to be good but sometimes with our size, I can get away with being a little off target. Since they are so tall they can still work with sets that are a little offline and get a kill or very solid hit.”
Casper expects the path to a Tri-County Conference title will once again involve beating Gideon.
Gideon with Risco beat Clarkton in the title game of the Tri-County Conference Tournament last season to secure its ninth straight conference championship.
“Historically, you have to look at Gideon,” Casper said. “Their track record speaks for itself. They have a great program over there with a good coach. Amy Cowart has also done a good job at Clarkton. I also thought Southland played well last season. Those are probably the three teams at the top but the rest of the teams are also competitive. We performed better in our district last season than we did our conference. That speaks volumes to the competition level in our conference.”
Holcomb finishes last season red-hot. The Hornets won three consecutive three-set matches in its district tournament to advance to the state playoffs for the first time since 2006.
“It’s going to take a lot more work if we want to get back to where we got last season,” Williams said. “But we’ve got a pretty solid team and I think we can do it.”
Burress said the squad hopes to get another shot at Bernie which eliminated Holcomb from the Class 1 state playoffs last season.
“We faced them in the sectional last season,” Burress said. “We want to see them again this season.”
District assignments will be released later this month for the 2019 volleyball playoffs. It remains up in the air whether Holcomb will be assigned to District 1 or District 2.
“If we play fundamentally sound and use our assets we could have a shot at winning a district again with our returning starters,” Casper said. “It also goes back to how districts are drawn up. We don’t know who we will match up with yet and that will play a factor as well. We will just try to put ourselves in a good position and see how things go.”
Holcomb opens its season Aug. 30 at Southland. The Hornets handed Southland a season-ending three-set loss in a district semifinal last season.
“I think we split with Southland last season and they have some good returning players,” Casper said. “We are ready to dive in. We know we will see good competition to start the season.”
HOLCOMB HORNETS VOLLEyBALL SCHEDULE
Date | Opponent | Loct. | Time |
8/30 | Southland | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/5 | North Pemiscot | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/6 | Delta C-7 | Home | 6 p.m. |
9/7 | Malden JV Tournament | Away | TBA |
9/9 | Hayti | Home | 6 p.m. |
9/10 | Senath-Hornersville | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/12 | Gideon | Home | 6 p.m. |
9/13-14 | Dig for Life Tourn. | Away | TBA |
9/16 | Risco | Home | 6 p.m. |
9/17 | Twin Rivers | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/19 | Cooter | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/23 | Kennett | Away | 6 p.m. |
9/26 | Caruthersville | Away | p.m. |
9/27-28 | Gideon Inv. | Away | TBA |
10/4 | Clarkton | Home | 6 p.m. |
10/7 | South Pemiscot | Away | 6 p.m. |
10/10 | Campbell | Away | 6 p.m. |
10/14-18 | Tri County Tournament | Home | TBA |
10/21 | Portageville | Home | 6 p.m. |
10/22 | Malden | Away | 6 p.m. |