The AGWSR volleyball team is gearing up for the season with three members of last year’s starting lineup, including junior kills leader Brylea Metzgar, senior setter Trevyn Smith and junior outside hitter Elise Olson.
“Having Trevyn, obviously, back is really big for us,” Head Coach Jill Smith says. “She’s the quarterback of the team. She does a great job running the offense. She understands where her hitters are and where the ball needs to go. So that’s really important. Offensively, that’s somewhere that we want to work to continue to improve. We’ve got Brylea Metzgar back in the middle. We have Elise Olson back on the outside. You’ll see Tori Metzgar hitting this year, and then Brylie Henze, who saw some time last year as a freshman, will be a constant in our lineup this year as well. So really focusing on trying to get our middles involved is going to be key for us I think.”
The Cougars are coming off an 18-24 season where they finished third in the NICL-West and reached a regional final. Smith on what she anticipates for a playing style.
“I’d love for people to look at our team and say, ‘What a gritty team they are, you know?’ Like no quit, get after every ball, loud, enthusiastic. So those are the things I really want to see. Just a lot of energy and just really relentless on defense.”
A notable change is the move from Class 1A to Class 2A due to a spike in enrollment at the high school. After making two straight 1A regional finals with a sub-.500 record, Smith says the regular season will be much more critical regarding postseason seeding.
“It’s something that’s outside of our control. Our next few classes coming through are bigger, so we’ll probably remain in 2A for the next few years. So putting together some key wins will be important going into the postseason as to where the state sends us. I have no idea where, you know, because we haven’t been in 2A, so just take it as it comes.”
The Cougars will open with a quad at Grundy Center on Tuesday, August 27.
Jill Smith interview:
