IAC VOLLEYBALL: NEWARK VALLEY HOPES TO COMPETE IN TOUGH DIVISION (12 PHOTOS) (2024-09-01)
By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportNEWARK VALLEY — The Newark Valley volleyball team lost a handful of seniors, three of whom were IAC all-stars, so the Cardinals will need to be on their game if they hope to compete in the IAC Large School division with the likes of defending Class B state champion Lansing and division champ Trumansburg.
Head coach Kelsey O’Donnell likes the numbers she has to work with.
“JV has, I believe, 14. Varsity has 10, and, yeah, I'm happy with those numbers,” she said. “I think it's a good amount for me to be able to get everyone in in their specific designated spots.”
NV will have some experienced players returning to court.
“We did lose quite a bit of seniors last year, especially my 6-foot-4 or whatever Cha (Gardner) in the front row, but I have four seniors this year,” O’Donnell said. “Everyone else is pretty much fresh to varsity, but you wouldn't be able to tell from just watching them practice, so it's a good group and I'm really excited for the future.”
O’Donnell did have some players involved in off-season ball.
“A few of them did some club, but most of them do so many other sports,” she said. “I'm just glad that they're staying active overall, but as far as specifically volleyball, I think there's only a few.”
The players have been focusing on “a good mix of everything” during preseason and have also worked on building stronger team unity.
“We have a really strong bond with them,” O’Donnell said of the coaching staff, which includes JV mentor Val Fischer. “(It was) our first time ever doing a full team sleepover, JV and varsity, and it went really well.”
Despite the graduation losses, O’Donnell isn’t too worried about how competitive the Cardinals will be.
“I have strong hitters, I have strong passers and strong servers, so I'm not really worried about anything in particular,” she said. “I think as long as it all comes together, we'll be good.
NV opens the season Sept. 10 at Tioga, a perennial league power.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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