The Grundy Center volleyball team is working to integrate new members into the setter position. After the graduation of four-year starter Ellery Luhring, it’ll be a key role to fill in a relatively new-look team.
Head Coach Lori Willis says working on cohesiveness is one of the main objectives when preparing for the season.
“When you graduate on a setter like Ellery, you feel it,” Willis says. “She was a very special, talented athlete and person. But when you have a new setter, obviously it’s basically repetition and communication. Repetition with those hitters and then that communication, they need to work it out. We talk about it to the girls because they’re so concerned about the difference. We have Kayden Muller, who is shorter in stature, then we have Ryanne Brubaker, who is extremely tall, so it’s very different. We just keep talking to the setters. You’re setting a place, not a person. You’re setting a place. If you can put the ball in that same place every time, the hitters will find it and we will get consistent. So those are the kind of connections that we’re working on. We’ll get some positional work during two-a-days here, where we bring in just that position and we rep it out. And I really feel like those are times when we really excel and get better.”
Willis says two frontrunners have emerged to run a two-setter formation.
“We have both Lauren Zajac and Caturella Brown coming in and setting a 6-2 for us. It’s fun to see their leadership because both of them are super positive and they’re very vocal, and we need that. So it’s very fun to have them on the court to lead us in that way, and we need them to do that.”
The Spartans are coming off a 38-8 season where they reached the Class 2A semifinals. They’ll open the season by hosting AGWSR, Hudson and Waverly-Shell Rock for a quad on Tuesday, August 27.
Lori Willis interview:
