Clay's first season as a member of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference will present many of the same challenges for the Eagles as the old City League did.

Their names are St. Ursula Academy, Notre Dame Academy and Central Catholic. Like Clay, they are all former members of the CL who this season will compete in the newly-formed TRAC.

“The new league will be a challenge,” Clay coach Tracy Donnelly said, “and I love a challenge.”

The Eagles won their season opener, a home non-conference match against Northview, in three games. They hosted Central Catholic on Thursday.

“It was a nice win over Northview,” Donnelly said. “Whenever you can get a win your first match, it feels good. The juniors seemed to be a little nervous at first, but we came together as a team and won in three. This year our servers will have to be tough to keep teams out of their system.

“We are still a small team. We will be one of the smaller teams in the league, but if we serve tough, play relentless defense and make great decisions, we should be very competitive this year. Having Central our second match of the season will let us know where we stand early in the year.”

The Eagles graduated three players - Torrie Reichert, Alexis Morrision and Miranda Cortez – from last year's team, which finished 14-8 and 7-3 (fourth) in the CL.

Seniors Kristen Kayser, Kim Crawford and Alex Roberts all enter this season as three-year varsity starters.

Kayser, an outside hitter/setter, was second-team All-City and honorable mention all-district last year. Crawford, a libero, was third-team all-league as a junior, and Roberts returns as an outside hitter/setter.

Other returning letterwinners include senior middle hitter Mallory Mottmiller and senior outside hitter Katey McQueary. Outside hitters Halie Steingraber, a senior, and juniors Lydia Winckowski and Shyann Garmon return to the varsity squad in 2011.

“Katey McQueary and Mallory Mottmiller both have varsity experience,” Donnelly said. “Kristen, Kim and Mallory are our three senior captains this year. We have an experienced team and we will depend on the seniors to lead by example. Halie Steingraber had limited playing time last year, but she has really picked up her game and should make an impact this year.

“We have a few power hitters,” the coach added, “but they have to know when power will work for us. We have been trying to work on the mental part of the game. We have to make great decisions most of the time to be successfull.”

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