The 2024 Manchester volleyball seniors. From left, Maddie Dunn, Taylor Rideout, Jaylise Applegate, Rylie Young and Jacey Farley (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
The 2024 West Union volleyball seniors. From left, Lilly Randolph and Ashlah Staten (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
The 2024 North Adams volleyball seniors. From left, Aulbrea Meade and Katelynn Boerger (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The heat has definitely been on the outside the past few weeks, but it has also been inside the local high school gymnasiums. The high school volleyball season is underway and all four Adams County squads have gotten at least four matches under their belt.
Leading the way, as they have done for over a decade now, are Coach Katie Ragan and the North Adams Lady Devils, the defending Southern Hills Athletic Conference gold ball champions who are looking to repeat that feat once again in 2024 and are off to a perfect start.
After going five sets for a season-opening home win over Minford, the Lady Devils have not seriously been challenged, winning 15 consecutive sets in straight set wins over Ripley, Lynchburg, Portsmouth Clay, Portsmouth West and Whiteoak, three of those wins were in the conference. The coaches in the SHAC chose North Adams to win the big school division and Fairfield to take the small school and those two teams will match up in Seaman on Friday, September 13.
The Lady Devils are led by a pair of talented seniors in Aulbrea Meade and the 2023 SHAC Co-Player of the year Katelynn Boerger. Boerger leads the undefeated 2024 squad with 96 kills, tops in the SHAC, while Meade leads the conference in service aces. The efforts of the two seniors come across mostly as a result of the efforts of junior setter Natalie Ragan, who tops the conference with 198 assists.
The three standouts listed above have a lot of other talent surrounding them, including junior Paige Evans, sophomore Elizabeth Raines and two of the Pistole triplets, sophomores Emma and Ava. The North Adams roster also includes sophomores Morgan Wheeler and Mia Kingsley, junior Addison Shupert and freshman Marley Whalen.
The winning pipeline looks to be continuing for the Lady Devils as Coach Rob Meade’s JV squad currently stands at 4-1 on the season, all four wins in straight sets.
At West Union High School, head coach Kiersten Rowe seems to get the best and worst of high school athletes, sometimes very happy with the way her team plays and sometimes scratching her head wondering what went wrong. At press time, the Lady Dragons held a 3-3 record with a tough match up with North Adams looming on Tuesday, September 3 and a home match with Peebles on Friday, September 6.
The West Union girls opened their 2024 campaign with a five-set win over Felicity, followed up by a four-set loss to Bethel-Tate. The Lady Dragons then won their first conference match, downing Eastern Brown 3-0 and made it a two-game winning streak by topping Sciotoville East (3-0). Cue up the roller coaster for Coach Rowe as her team then dropped two straight conference matches, Fairfield and Whiteoak, to leave them at .500 for the season.
The Lady Dragons’ roster includes just two seniors, setter Ashlah Staten and Lilly Randolph, and a trio of juniors- Shelbi Weakley, Emmy Stapleton and Kale Garrison. Sophomores on the roster are Jocelyn Hall, libero Violet Randolph, Annabelle McIntosh and Maddie Stout. That is a talented roster, it’s just a matter of everyone getting on the same page at the same time.
At Peebles, the Lady Indians are still trying to get out from behind the proverbial eight ball as head coach Tina Fristoe was hired barely a week before the season began. Working in rapid fashion to get her team ready for the regular season opener, Coach Fristoe saw her team get off to a slow start, dropping their four matches. Peebles fell to Lynchburg and Fairfield in SHAC action, then dropped two more, Southeastern and Western Latham.
But perhaps things are turning around for the Lady Indians as they won their next two matches, both conference affairs. The first was a four-set triumph over Eastern Brown and then two nights later a tough five-set win over Ripley that led them an even 2-2 in conference play.
The Lady Indians are paced by senior hitter Angel Gray, who has played exceptionally well at the net in the first six matches. Another trio of seniors are solid members of the starting lineup, Ashlyn Abbott, Abby Smalley and Lainee Barr. Junior Kaelyn Musser has also been solid and will only get better with more varsity experience.
The Peebles roster also includes juniors Aiva Brumley (who is also the leading scorer on the girls soccer team), Kaylee Hanson and Ella Richards, sophomore Reece Davis and freshmen Paysen Shivelely and Kendall Myers. Coach Fristoe is assisted this season by Mariah Byers.
Still searching for that first “W” of the season are the Manchester Lady Greyhounds and their first-year head coach Aaliyah Smith. Smith is making the jump from junior high to the varsity level and her team has experienced the expected growing pains in an 0-4 start. The Lady Hounds opened their 2024 season with a loss at Piketon then suffered a loss to Ripley in their first conference match. Losses to Portsmouth and Fairfield followed to leave the Manchester girls at 0-4 as this issue went to press.
The Lady Hounds are a senior-laden squad, with five on the roster- Maddie Dunn, Jacey Farley, Jaylise Applegate, Taylor Rideout and Rylie Young. Sophomores Bristynn McClanahan and Addi Hunter will play key roles on a roster that also include juniors Kaydence Newland, Kennedi Turner and Abby Neria; and sophomore Kathryn Whited. Coach Smith will be assisted this fall by Madison Jones, Brooke Kennedy and Crystal Easter.
September holds a full slate of volleyball action so get out there and check out your favorite team in action!
(Peebles High School has not held their Fall Sports Picture Day yet, therefore there is no photo of the Peebles seniors available.)
