Semoball

Bulldog Bits: Coach's kid 'taps' Gideon to new heights

Gideon High School junior Kaylee Ashabranner taps the ball through the defense against South Iron in the MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU – No matter the sport and no matter the level of competition, when an athlete fills a key role on a team AND their parent is the coach, eyes can roll. However, watch the Gideon High School volleyball team play and it becomes obvious to everyone that Bulldog junior hitter Kaylee Ashabranner is on the court because of her ability, not her last name.

“Kaylee might be a grade lower than us,” Gideon senior setter Malerie Sharp said, “but she has played with us forever and I can really trust her to get (the ball) over the net.”

Ashabranner’s mother, Kristen, has been the Gideon coach for 15 seasons, and there may not have been a more critical play made during her tenure than what her daughter did in the third set of Friday’s MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal win over South Iron at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Bulldogs (32-1-1) had allowed a 24-18 lead slip away, as the Panthers cut their deficit to 24-23 and held all of the momentum necessary to win the set and take a 2-1 lead in the match. However, the younger Ashabranner rose up for what South Iron was a sure spike, and yet she tapped the ball along the left line, just out of reach of the Panther defense, which sealed the win, and the match was never in doubt following that moment.

“I treat every kid out here like they are my own,” Kristen said. “I will ream one just like I would any other player. There is no special treatment. If anything, I am probably harder on (Kaylee), because I expect so much out of her.”

Kaylee will celebrate her 17th birthday today by playing for the Class 1 state championship against Miller (33-1-1) at 4 p.m. in the same city in which she was born. In Friday’s win, she totaled a team-high 23 digs to go with nine kills and had a team-leading four service aces.

Her mother was a Bulldog player (graduating in 2003), but she admitted to not being in the same class as her daughter athletically.

“By far,” Kristen said, “she is better than I was. She is taller and a little more athletic than I was.

“Kaylee can smoke the ball. I could find a hole (in the defense), but I’m telling you, she has come a long way and done a really good job.”

Pay attention to No. 1

Bulldog senior Haley Stover may wear No. 1 on her jersey, but she isn’t the first player that stands out to the casual observer when watching Gideon play.

Senior hitter Katie Clenney is super athletic, skilled, and can crush the ball, while senior setter Malerie Sharp runs the offense with precision.

The Raymond twins are shockingly athletic and effective, given their 5-foot-4 heights, while Kaylee Ashabranner challenges Clenney’s ability at the net.

So, it may have been surprising to many to read the stat sheet following the Bulldog win on Friday, but it wasn’t to Gideon coach Kristen Ashabranner.

“You look at us and you might think that she is just an average player,” Coach Ashabranner said of Stover, “but we play a game in our practice called ‘Speed Ball,’ and she is the ‘Speed Ball’ queen.

“She is the smartest kid and will go after any ball there is.”

Stover showed that drive on Friday, as she kept numerous possessions alive by sheer determination.

She led the Bulldogs with 15 kills and just as many digs, which were second to Ashabranner’s 23.

“I look at Haley as one of my go-to players to set,” Sharp explained. “I feel like I can always trust her to get it over the net and inbounds. She is really smart and knows where to put it.”

The ‘lucky’ board

Coach Ashabranner holds a clipboard throughout each match that looks similar to most of the Bulldog opponents: In bad shape.

The board is taped together after Ashabranner broke it during the Tri-County Conference Tournament last season.

“Kaylee made a silly mistake,” Ashabranner said of her daughter, “and I broke the thing over my head.”

Coach Ashabranner didn’t want to get a new board (though she has “about five in her backpack”), so she told Gideon assistant coach Cassy St. Cin that “we need to tape that thing up.”

“It’s good luck,” Ashabranner said.

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