Troy volleyball team looking to improve this season
<p>The 2016-2017 Troy Volleyball Team. Back row, left to right: Ashley Gromley (Junior Varsity), Ella Pierce (C-Squad), Sarah Pierce (Varsity), Katelyn Tallmadge (C-Squad), Montana Rice (C-Squad), Alyssa Lewis (Varsity), Sami Roerich (Varsity), Allie Coldwell (Varsity) and Heather Lyons (Junior Varsity). Front Row, left to right: Olivia Short (Junior Varsity), Kylie Carr (Junior Varsity), Sarah Shadden (C-Squad), Olivia Roach (Varsity), Kaitlyn Downy (Varsity), Allie Brown (Varsity), Mazzy Hermes (C-Squad), Kami Finley (C-Squad) and Harle Huisentruit (C-Squad).</p>
Troy volleyball coach Mandy Love expects a good season for the 2016 Troy Trojan volleyball team.
The team started practicing over two weeks ago and will head to the Mission Valley for their first game on Saturday.
“They have great attitudes and they’re working really hard,” Love said. “That’s something that really helps them to reach the goals.”
The team has eight seniors, two juniors and one sophomore. Love estimated that last year’s team finished with a 6-10 record. Love expects their record to improve this year, saying that during the senior’s first year playing as sophomores, they didn’t win any games, and they’ve gradually improved over the last three years.
“They actually know how the game is played now. I think that we’re really looking to improve during the next season,” she said.
Love said that the team is strong with the amount of senior experience, but has been a little inconsistent based on the scrimmages.
“We’ve done one scrimmage really well, and the other one pretty poor,” Love said. However, Love said that their setting is getting more consistent and their outside hitters have a lot of experience and skill. Even though the middle blockers and liberos are seniors, they don’t have as much experience, but Love said they’ve showed improvement.
Love praised the starting players, including senior setter Allie Brown, who she said has gotten a lot more consistent with her sets. She also said that junior libero Kaitlyn Downey is a great defensive player, and senior outside-hitter Olivia Roach is a great player all around. The newcomers include senior Alyssa Lewis and junior Allie Coldwell, who is new to the sport of volleyball this year. Senior outside hitter Sarah Pierce and senior middle blocker Sami Rohrich are also on the team, bringing their experience as returning varsity players.
Love said that the team gets along well.
“I think they have a really tight bond.”
The girls have worked together on various team-bonding projects, Love said, including making tie-dye T-shirts together.
The team’s first game is on Saturday, when they will travel to the Mission Valley to play Mission and Deer Lodge at 10 a.m.
Reporter Bethany Rolfson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at reporter@thewesternnews.com.