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Fall 2017 Preview: Crane Volleyball

By Josh Hall (Josh.hall@ky3.com)

Mallory Richardson was in her first year as the head volleyball coach at Crane High School and the Lady Pirates only had two players with varsity experience going into the 2016 season.

They went on to produce a 15-17-2 record after falling to Purdy in the first round of the Class 2 District 10 tournament.

With another year of experience and most of its starting lineup returning, the Crane enters 2017 with high hopes.

“It was a lot of new pieces coming together,” Richardson said at a tournament in late June. “I feel like this year we’re more comfortable together and we know what to expect from each other. I think that’s going to be a strength for us this year, just having that bond coming from last year.

“They’ve really stepped up and now know what to expect and know what I expect. They had the heart last year, and I think we’re starting to get the skill level caught up with the heart.”

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Crane does lose some of its fire power from a year ago.

The Lady Pirates will be without first-team all-SWCL selection Madison Fulp, who led the team with 178 kills and was second with 45 blocks as a middle hitter. Also gone is second-team all-SWCL pick Maelyn Gonzalez, who paced the team in receptions (258) digs (198) and aces (39). Now a Coffeyville Red Raven, Gonzalez was also second on the team with 147 assists.

“We’ve lost people and we’ve brought new people in,” Richardson said. “My expectations of the girls stay the same, no matter who we have on the court. We don’t necessarily have the height on our roster this year, we don’t have a ton of power hitters, but we’ll have some strong defense and I think that will keep us in games.”

Despite seeing limited time at the varsity level as freshmen, sophomores Madison Hicks, Sadie McMenamy, Mackinzie Funcannon and Olivia Edwards put up numbers. Also in the mix last year was junior Maggie Vaught.

As a middle, Hicks led the team in blocks (57), and was second in kills (135) and kill percentage (48.7). Funcannon (libero) recorded a team-leading 176 digs to go along with 226 receptions while McMenamy (setter) paced the team with 239 assists.

Edwards added 130 digs and 200 receptions as a defensive specialist, and Vaught collected 104 digs.

New to the mix this season will be seniors Madison Bentley (middle/outside hitter) and Madison Moreland (outside hitter).

“We have girls who are good athletes and our great competitors,” Richardson said. “They don’t like to lose. They’ll fight with everything they have when they’re out there.”