IAC VOLLEYBALL: S-VE LOOKS TO BUILD ON 2023 SUCCESS (2024-08-28)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — The Spencer-Van Etten volleyball team displayed steady progression through the 2023 season and is hoping that success carries over in 2024.
The Panthers capped their IAC season by defeating Candor in five sets to win the IAC Small School championship. The Coyotes, who went undefeated during the regular season, including a pair of wins against S-VE, would go on to reach the Class D state semifinals.
S-VE's season would end in the Section IV Class C pool play semifinals, but not before first-year coach Charity Meyers had led them to a 13-4 record. The Panthers' other losses came against Class AAA Corning and Class AA Horseheads,
“It was very exciting last year,” she said. “I felt like the girls, they just kept improving throughout the season and they just wanted it. They just really wanted that IAC championship and they worked for it, and they got it. I was so proud of them.”
S-VE returns four of its seven IAC all-stars and expects to be competitive in the conference again.
While the Panthers aren’t overwhelmed with a large number of players, they do bring plenty of experience.
“They're not too bad,” Meyers said. “Overall, we're going to have 10 and 10, 10 on varsity, 10 on JV, but we’ve got the areas covered that we need.
“With varsity, I had brought up some of the (JV) girls at the end of the season and they were very skilled for their age. Sydney (Meyers) does such a good job with the JV that the ones that are coming up from JV have really good experience as well and do a good job.
“We also did travel throughout the winter and I think most everybody played. I think we might have had just one girl that didn't play travel. The same with the camp. Everybody came to camp and that turned out really well, so we're really excited.”
The coach knows there are areas to improve in, but she’s confident in her team.
“We know that we have stronger areas and weaker areas, but we know what we need to do to really work with that, so I think they're going to do a really good job this year. They've worked really hard.”
Although S-VE is expected to battle Candor again this season, they may not be the only two teams in the division to put up a fight.
“I think this year is going to be a little more challenging because, like Union Springs, they had a young group. The girls were tall and good hitters,” Meyers said. “Now they’ve got another year experience with it, and I think that they're going to put up more of a challenge and stuff.
“I think Newfield improved throughout the season. They have new coaches and I feel like they're getting better.”
Sectional foes which could be tough include Trumansburg, Walton and Tioga.
In the meantime, Meyers is focusing on fine-tuning the Panthers' service game.
“I always want my girls to be good servers,” she said. “As a coach, I've always tried to carry good servers that are hard to return, and we do have some really good players and we're going to use them as much as possible. We have some tricks up our sleeve.”
“A couple big players to watch are Faith Brenchley, our setter, and she's really good. Lily Doolittle is very good. And they're great leaders too.
The JV team could benefit from a couple of younger girls who were brought up due to their skill and athleticism.
The varsity lost seven players to graduation, but Meyers expects the girls moving up from last year’s team to help out.
“Sydney does a really good job with the JV, so when they come up, their techniques and stuff like that are really good,” she said.
S-VE will scrimmage at T-burg Tuesday, then open the season Sept. 7 at the Corning tournament.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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