It isn't that Northwood volleyball coach John Stover thinks his team lacks talent, it's just that sometimes they don't – ahem – measure up against certain opponents.

“The thing is, we're short,” the fifth-year coach said. “Kelcey Hansen is our tallest player at 5-10, and my next tallest player is 5-8. What we try to do is win on defense, which against teams with really strong hitters is really difficult. Our hitters are consistent, but they're not the kind of hitters who can put the ball straight down and who can carry a team. We don't have that this year.”

Through Wednesday the Rangers were 4-4 and 1-1 in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, with wins over Bettsville, Ottawa Hills, Start and Lake. Their losses were against Bowsher, Whitmer, Genoa and Toledo Christian.

Toledo Christian, the defending TAAC co-champs along with Cardinal Stritch, beat the Rangers in three games on Monday. Northwood took third in the conference last season.

“We lost to Toledo Christian 25-23 in the third game and we played them pretty well,” Stover said. “If we keep improving, I think we can give them a match when we play at their place in a couple weeks.”

The Rangers' returning starters from a year ago are senior libero Sammie Brisbin, senior setter Shannon Robedeau, senior right side hitter Tiffany Kehlmeier, senior left side hitter Delaney Guadarrama, junior setter Cindy Szyperski and sophomore Chelsey Guadarrama.

Brisbin, a second-team All-TAAC performer a year ago, leads the team in digs this season. Robedeau is recovering from a thumb injury.

“Cindy Szyperski has filled in at setter and has done a very nice job for us,” Stover said. “We're fortunate to have two very nice setters.”

Senior Jessica Heuer leads Northwood in kills and aces despite recurring shoulder issues.

“Jessica has played club volleyball for years and played on our jayvee team as a freshman,” Stover said. “She tore her rotator cuff her freshman year and missed her freshman and sophomore years. She had surgery to repair the rotator and recovered from that and kind of tore it again last year. She's going to have to have surgery following the season, but her arm is holding up OK. She's my most effective hitter.”

Stover added that in order to make a run at teams like Toledo Christian and Stritch in the TAAC, the Rangers will have to rely on a strong defensive effort in every match.

“We're capable of playing really good defense,” he said. “We have a great group of girls, and we showed in our last game with Toledo Christian that we can hang with them. We still control our own destiny. We could tie for the league title if we win out, but Toledo Christian is a very strong team this year.”

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed