By Chris Parker
Aurora volleyball has a new head coach in Krishna Cullers. Cullers comes over to Aurora after serving as head coach at Pierce City. Prior to that, Cullers was an assistant at Glendale and a student assistant at Western Illinois University.
“There were multiple things that attracted me to Aurora. The competiveness of the conference, a larger school then where I was previously with an added bonus of no commuting for me,” Cullers said.
She will be looking to turn around an Aurora volleyball program that has experienced back-to-back losing seasons after winning district titles in four of five years and posting winning seasons in five straight seasons.
Senior Gabie McVey is the top returning player after earning second-team all-conference honors last season. McVey led Aurora in digs (449) and serve receptions (503) last year.
“I have a lot of expectations for Gabie this year. Not only leading our team as a major offensive and defensive threat, but also as a leader on the floor as far as work ethic, mentality, and some competitiveness,” Cullers said. “Her greatest asset is easily her volleyball knowledge and her ability to read the court. Especially as one of our setters and outside hitter that knowledge that comes from experience will especially help her shine.”
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Sophomore Kymaran Darnall is the second returning all-conference selection for Aurora. Darnall earned honorable mention all-conference honors after she put down 129 kills in her freshman season.
“Kymaran was able to find success on varsity so quickly because she’s a great athlete,” Cullers said. “Her height is definitely an advantage to our team especially with her being a strong hitter and blocker, and she’s shown a lot of knowledge and understanding of the game that typically shows up in later years. She has so much potential for this year and the upcoming years.”
Hannah Hudson (senior outside hitter), Abbey Davis (junior middle), Jacey Lee (junior middle), Alexa Cline (junior right side) and Mya Lara (junior defensive specialist) are other returning players who will have an impact on varsity.
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“Our biggest strength this year will be our hitters with some great height. We have some really great hitters and everyone is really versatile, which helps out tremendously and let us adjust quickly to certain teams/hitters,” Cullers said. “An area we can improve on is absolutely our mental toughness, which is honestly an area that most high school players need to improve. But especially for this upcoming year and with changes to the program, mental toughness will play an important role for us.”
Aurora will travel to Carthage for a jamboree on Aug. 24 with the host Tigers, Joplin and Nevada. Aurora will open the regular season on Aug. 31 at home against Lamar.
