By Chris Parker
Thayer volleyball is looking for its first double-digit win season since 2011.
Junior Naomi Figgins will be a team leader for the Lady Cats.
“This year she (Figgins) has really stepped up to the plate with both working with all the new to the sport players to just her all around attitude and confidence about the sport,” Thayer head coach Jennifer Seibert said.
Sophomore setter Danayca Donahue returns to the floor after finishing second on the team with 70 assists last year.
“She (Donahue) knows the game from start to finish. This is her sport and she loves playing it,” Seibert said.
CLICK HERE FOR A FULL SEASON SCHEDULE
Chasity Wodinowich is a junior back row and outside hitter. The junior had 11 aces, 80 digs and 117 serve receptions last year.
“Chasity is a hard worker and takes in everything that you tell her,” Seibert said.
Also returning are twins Natalyn and Kylie Price who saw varsity action as freshmen last season.
Sophomore Quincy County along with the freshman trio of Ashley Jackson, Hadley Meyer and Abby Bowers will see varsity action this year.
“The biggest strength for our team this year will be attitude, versatility, and team work. This group seems like they can take constructive criticism and turn it into their goals,” Seibert said. “This year our team will need to work on their communication skills with each other. This team is a very young team and they have a lot of skills when their communication is on point.”
DOWNLOAD THE O-ZONE APP NOW!
APPLE – CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
ANDROID – CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Seibert has also adjusted her practice philosophy after Missouri moved from a best-of-three to best-of-five set format last year.
“Last year’s biggest lesson we as a team learned was that we need to add more conditioning to each practice in order to maintain stamina. We were good for the first two sets but when it came down to the third set you could see that our stamina was running low,” Seibert said. “We have added more conditioning to our practices, and we will be having longer and harder practices this year. I think that the girls that played last year really noticed that with the new format they had to really push themselves so this year the girls have worked harder and pushed themselves to train harder.”
Thayer will host a jamboree for the first time this year with Koshkonong and Couch. Couch is fielding volleyball team for the first time this year.
“The overall expectations for the team this year is to see growth,” Seibert said. “These girls have only been playing volleyball together for a couple of years, but if these girls stick with playing volleyball this team will be an amazing team.”
