Noxon High School volleyball team prepare for St. Regis

NOXON - With the fall season quickly approaching, the Noxon Lady Red Devils were hard at work setting up their team structure. According to Head Coach Teri Wilkinson, this year the team has three returning players, with one being a senior, and two juniors.

The returning players are McKenna Krueger, Katie Chandler and Tierrah Camara.

With such a young team, Wilkinson said the year would not be without trials and tribulations.

“We’re going to struggle but hopefully mid season, we’ll get it all together,” said Wilkinson.

This year the Lady Red Devils have a good round of freshman joining their ranks, many of them with previous volleyball experience in Junior High.

As the girls warmed up on their Friday evening practice, they practice hitting, bumping and volleying. Once warm-ups were finished, the girls began scrimmaging.

In the first scrimmage of the year, Wilkinson said the opportunity would allow her to see what talents her team possessed and would also let her determine some of the player’s strengths.

With their setter graduating last year, the team is currently looking for a new one.

“We’re looking for a setter to step up,” said Wilkinson.

One possible setter is already in her sights. Wilkinson said Camara may step up to the position.

“Tierrah was our libero the last two years so I think we’re going to make her a setter this year,” said Wilkinson.

The libero is a specialist defensive position in indoor volleyball. Often times the libero is one of the team’s farthest back players on the court and the one with the most range.

The setter is the front right position and is in charge of setting the ball into position so another team member can hit it over the net.

The coach said Krueger, Chandler and Camara would be the girls to watch this season. As the girl’s showcased their skills, Wilkinson said the group of gals would be split up into junior varsity and varsity teams on Monday, August 26 – Friday’s practice being their last chance to step up on the court and show the team what they are made of.

During the practice, Wilkinson instructed the girls on what to do and gave them advice on how to better play the sport. She encouraged everyone to try their hardest and said those who were unwilling to dive onto the ground, did not have a shot at varsity.

Often times in a fast-paced game, a girl will have to dive to save the ball, a move more experienced players make.

The Lady Red Devils first game of the season will be against St. Regis on September 6th in Noxon. Although, Wilkinson was unsure of how the St. Regis team was shaping up for the year, she had heard that their team also has a big group of incoming freshman.