Fresh start for Blue Devil volleyball
(From Left to Right) Z’acorrie Caldwell, Reagan Karczewski, Coach Smoak, Molly Miller, Taylar Russel, Danni Niuman, Avery Humphreys.
Volleyball season is one that almost everyone enjoys, not just playing, but watching it too. Although volleyball seems, for the most part, a simple sport, there are many pieces and extensive planning goes into it.
Logan Smoak is in her fourth year at Central Heights as an English IV and Principles of Human Services teacher and head varsity volleyball coach.
Smoak shares her thoughts and opinions about the current season, and how well the team has adapted to change.
“I think I have been most impressed with our flexibility and willingness to change at a moment’s notice. I think we have learned a lot dealing with the Coronavirus this past year, we never know who is going to be here and who’s not,” Smoak said. “We are constantly having to be prepared for anything. We have done a really good job of switching out lineups, and people who are on the bench stepping up and getting some playing time.”
Although the team started preparing for the season in the beginning of August, many parts of the game still need attention. Smoak said that speed is the biggest aspect that needs to be focused on but goes into further detail about other crucial parts such as speed and defense.
“I think our blocking needs quite a bit of work and just our transition speed has got to get faster. We have a lot of really great pieces and we are running a faster offense and when we pass the ball well we look really good, it’s just continuing to actually get there,’’ she said. “Defensively wise I think our defense looks pretty solid behind the block, it’s just making sure that we funnel them in the right direction.”
Every year it is a given that you are going to lose the group of seniors, and gain a whole new group of younger players on the court. With new players, you get a whole new group of personalities and skills. It is exciting to see how the new players fit into the team and how they settle into the game.
“The seniors bring a lot of excitement into every practice, especially since there are a ton of them, so losing a group this large is definitely going to make a dent. We’ve been fortunate that they’ve stuck it out and hung with us the past four years. We just have several key role players in that group,” she said.