After one of the best seasons in Trinity volleyball history, the program is looking to retool and continue to build on its success this year.
The Lady Raiders are coming off of a season in which they finished 27-6 and went undefeated in district play before claiming the 12th District Championship. Trinity battled its way to the 3rd Region Championship, but fell just short of the school’s first regional title against Daviess County (19-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-13, 15-8).
Head Coach Daniel Morris and company have a couple of players that were crucial to their postseason run last year, including seniors Josie Aull and Abby Payne at the forefront.
“They are both vital players to both our offense and defense side of the game. Juniors Hannah Nash and Georgia Howard and Sophomore Kenzie McDowell are all key players that also returned from last season that will be sharp and powerful hitters as the season goes.”
However, the Lady Raiders lost a number of players to graduation, meaning retooling was in order. Morris said that a solid sophomore class will be able to assist in filling in for the graduated players production.
“With losing four seniors from last year’s season, I will have some new players that will step up to the challenge of playing at the varsity level more than they did,” Morris said. “Sophomores Caroline Hall, Addison Mills, and Sarah Payne will be essential keys to helping us succeed in hopes of another historical run for Lady Raider Volleyball.”
With such a young roster, Morris said that building team chemistry and understanding how to best utilize each other’s skills is a priority each day. They hope to play at a much faster pace with younger and smaller players on the roster, but despite the differences from last year’s team Morris thinks that if they continue to bond on and off the court that they have the potential to be just as successful.
“My girls have been working extremely hard off-season,” Morris said. “Our expectations are the same as last year. We want to be the team that is considered the dark horse when postseason rolls around.”
