ROCKINGHAM - Despite limited numbers of regular participants during the first three weeks of summer workouts due to vacations, first-year varsity volleyball coach Ashleigh Larsen is pushing forward in making the Lady Raiders program her own.
Introduced as the Richmond Senior High School’s head coach on Monday, June 4, Larsen is leading the Lady Raiders’ transition from former head coach Shellie Wimpey’s style, all while trying to replace some big-time pieces on the court.
After the Lady Raiders won the inaugural Sandhills Athletic Conference title and conference tournament in 2017 with a perfect 25-0 record, and securing the program’s first No. 2 seed in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4A state playoffs, they’ll enter the 2018 season without four key starters from a year ago.
Now graduated players Brianna Baysek (middle hitter), Owen Bowers (middle hitter), Altman Griffin (outside hitter) and Mackenzie Webb (setter) were four starters who contributed to the Lady Raiders’ success last fall. All four were named to the All-SAC team, and Griffin, who led the team with 259 kills, was tabbed with the SAC’s “Player of the Year” honor.
But through it all, Larsen still remains optimistic for the upcoming season. And it all starts with summer workouts and trying to establish the sports’ fundamentals with her players.
“For the girls who have been at workouts consistently, I’ve seen a little bit of growth already,” Larsen said, noting that the number of players at workouts have been as high as 25. “These girls are working hard and are seeing improvement.
“It’s been good, but we haven’t been able to grow very much because each day I have a new group of girls,” Larsen continued of workouts so far. “Anything we want to build on, we have to take a step back, refocus and then go forward. But overall, it’s going pretty good so far.”
Larsen’s first season with the clipboard in hand won’t be a total restart, as she’ll have several starters returning to the floor to help guide an influx of rising junior varsity players. Among those returning is All-SAC selection and rising senior outside hitter Savannah Lampley. Joining her are rising juniors libero Layne Maultsby and right-side hitter Allexis Swiney, both of whom played consistently during the 2017 season. Other returners are rising senior Savannah Chappell and rising junior Jadyn Johnson.
Vying to make the varsity team this season will be rising juniors Madison Jordan and Carley Lambeth, and rising sophomores Georgia Grace Anderson, Emy Cooley and Kelly and Shelly Hoffman. This past week, Anderson competed with the AC Sandhills club volleyball team in the national tournament in Orlando, Fla., and Larsen noted that she should come into workouts ready to go.
One of the biggest question marks that Larsen will need to address is finding a new setter for the varsity team, filling a void left by Webb, who begins her academic college career at UNC Chapel Hill later this summer. Right now, Larsen isn’t counting anyone out, as she’s had Lambeth and Lampley, among others, take repetitions at that position.
“We’ve really been focusing on our passing and serving because if we can’t get a good serve over, or set good passes, then we’re never going to get the rest of our offense rolling,” Larsen said of workout drills the team has been practicing. “I’ve drilled them hard with passing, and with serving, I’ve told them we’re not missing any serves if possible this year. A lot of the older girls are working on hitting, but the focus is working on defense first.
“The first week we did nothing but serve-receive,” she added. “Last week, we did passing and a little bit of hitting, but I wanted them to work on being able to receive the pass off the hit. I’ve had Emy, Carley and Savannah (Lampley) setting a little bit last week, and everyone is working in different spots. My philosophy is to have players who can play different positions to get more time on the court.”
Summer workouts for the volleyball program will continue throughout the summer in preparation for the season opener in August. From this point forward, despite two NCHSAA mandatory break periods in July, Larsen hopes to continue to build the program through weekly workouts to fit her mold as the Lady Raiders try to defend the SAC title for the third consecutive season.
“My goal for the rest of the summer is to definitely continue to get the girls, especially the younger girls, transitioning,” Larsen concluded. “We’re running a whole different offense (at the varsity level), and they need to learn the rotation and work on serve-receive. My goal is to get our passing down pat and focused, and build a stronger offense and get it in place.”
