By Tim Burgess
Head Volleyball coach
I am honored and excited to take over the Montezuma volleyball program with the help of last year’s assistant coach, Tiffany Kercheval, and newcomer to the coaching world, Riley “RG” Gatton. They add a wealth of knowledge and playing experience to the program.
Our staff and players have put in a solid summer of workouts, and first week of practices. We scrimmaged against English Valleys last Thursday and people were able to see the expectations of our program.
We have great chemistry, care about each other and are really gritty defensively.
I think we will be strong up front with two returning middle blockers from last year in Sydnee Burgess and Taylor Wilcox.
Madison Cheney will compete with Lindsey Henry to see if they can get some time up front as well.
Lily Ferry and Kylee Larmore are swinging pretty well and are both looking like they have the early lead playing as our outside hitters. Neither played the position on last year’s varsity as we graduated two all-conference hitters in Laila Kercheval and Izzy Roorda.
Chloe Snook can probably play in any position but will compete as a setter and right side hitter as she did at the end of last year.
Ava Pargeon and AJ Kercheval are rounding out our setters.
Addyson Probasco may be used in a variety of positions such as right side or a defensive specialist.
We round out the team with Sara Bos, Taya Sincox and Lauryn Larmore competing in the back row as defensive specialists.
It’s too early to tell if we will use a libero or not. Last year we also graduated Jadyn Sharer who was just a rock-solid kid.
Multi-year starter Elizabeth De Jong, now a senior, took a medical leave because of multiple surgeries and understandably decided to call it a career. She will continue to be involved in the program but in other ways.
With those four kids gone from last year’s squad, one could say we are a little inexperienced. I believe it has just made our kids hungry to prove themselves.
At this point, I love our energy, coachability and the girls’ buy-in. We work hard, compete and have fun doing it.
Bravettes varsity
1 Sara Bos, jr., DS/OH, 5-3
4 Taya Sincox, sr., DS/RS, 5-3
5 Ava Pargeon, jr., S/DS, 5-4
7 Sydnee Burgess, so., MH/OH, 6-0
8 Taylor Wilcox, sr., MH/RH, 5-8
9 Chloe Snook, Jr., S/RS, 5-4
11 Addyson Probasco, sr., DS/RS, 5-3
13 Annaleece Kercheval, so., S/DS, 5-3
14 Kylie Larmore, sr., DH/MH, 5-7
16 Lauren Larmore, fr., DS/L, 5-3
19 Madison Cheney, sr., MH, 5-10
23 Lily Ferry, jr., DH/RS, 5-4
24 Lindsey Henry, jr., RS/MH, 5-10
Position abbreviations
L – libero
DS – defensive specialist
RS – right side hitter
S/DS – setter, defensive specialist
MH/OH – middle/outside hitter
MH/RH – middle/right side hitter
S/RH – Setter/right side hitter
DS/RS – defensive specialist/right side hitter
OH/MH – outside/middle hitter
Bravettes returning stat leaders
Assists – Chloe Snook 279, Ava Pargeon 179.
Kills – Kylie Larmore 98, Sydnee Burgess 88.
Blocks – Burgess 31, Larmore 20.
Digs – Snook 133, Burgess 127, Ava Pargeon
Serving – Burgess 183-193 with 11 aces; Snook 129-143 with 9 aces; Taylor Wilcox 81-91, 11 aces; Larmore 71-80, 4 aces.
Serving – Burgess 183-193 with 11 aces; Snook 129-143 with 9 aces; Taylor Wilcox 81-91, 11 aces; Larmore 71-80, 4 aces.