The two teams picked by the coaches to win the big and small school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, North Adams and Fayetteville, faced off in the final match of the August 8 SHAC Preview. (Photo by Andy Baucom)
Surrounded by teammates, Manchester’s Bristynn McClanahan makes a return as the Lady Hounds battled Eastern brown in the 2025 SHAC Preview. (Photo by Andy Baucom)
Peebles senior Aiva Brumley makes a diving attempt at a return in action from last Friday night’s SHAC Preview. (Photo by Andy Baucom)
A bump return by West Union’s Annabelle McIntosh was part of the action as the Lady Dragons faced off with Peebles in the SHAC Preview on August 8 at North Adams. (Photo by Andy Baucom)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The volleyball season for the Southern Hills Athletic Conference officially kicked off on Friday, August 8 as North Adams High School again hosted the annual SHAC Volleyball Preview. 2025 will be a year of turnover in the conference, with five of the 10 teams sporting new coaches on the sidelines. For the preview, the match ups were set by the preseason coaches poll conducted by C103 and each exhibition consisted of two sets, giving each squad an opportunity to play before a large crowd and get a few of the early season nerves out of the way.
The first match up of the night, featured two teams with new head coaches, Ripley and Whiteoak, with the Whiteoak head coach being former North Adams Lady Devils Marah Call. It was the Lady Jays who took both of these preview sets, 21-10, 21-18.
The second match up of the preview paired two Adams County squads, the Peebles Lady Indians and the West Union Lady Dragons. The Lady Indians are under the guidance of their third head coach in three seasons, with Mariah Byers moving up from the junior high level. The Lady Dragons are led by fourth-year head coach Kiersten Rowe. For the two teams on Friday night, it was a split, Peebles taking the first set 21-17 and West Union the second 21-13.
“This team is probably the most experienced that I have had in my four seasons as head coach,” said West Union’s Rowe in her interview with C103 Radio. “We are all juniors and seniors and I hope that experience shows once the season gets started, since all the girls on varsity except one have varsity experience. We have a lot of girls in the high school program this year which is a great thing.”
“We lost a few key players from last year’s team and we have a lot of younger players stepping up,” Coach Byers told C103 Radio post-match. “We have a lot of girls in new positions and we just are trying to find the dynamic again. Our back row players should be strong and we are working on the front row but as long as we play as a team, we should be fine.”
Next up were the two teams picked to finish third in their respective divisions, Manchester and Eastern Brown. The Lady Hounds welcome back to the sidelines, former Manchester multi-sport standout Morgan Johnson, who has varsity coaching experience previously at Ripley. On Friday night, it was the Lady Warriors who controlled the play, taking both sets played, 21-12, 21-10.
“We will be a fairly young team, just two seniors,” Coach Johnson said in her radio spot. “Right now we are lacking on the communication which is causing a lot of the errors you saw tonight and we are still figuring a lineup out that works, though we were missing a couple of girls tonight. I like how hard our girls work and they seem to be eager to get better. We just need to get more leadership on the court.”
After Lynchburg downed Fairfield in both sets, the final pairing of the night was between the two teams picked to win the big and small school division of the SHAC, North Adams and Fayetteville. The Lady Devils under Coach Katie Ragan have dominated the conference the past two seasons, winning consecutive gold ball trophies and they handled the Lady Rockets in the preview, 21-13. 21-6.
“I think we got the nerves out in a scrimmage earlier today,” Coach Ragan told C103 Radio. “We’ve moved some players around and it has worked well so far. We have seniors who have played a lot together and some younger players with great potential. Last year’s team was very middle-oriented and this year it’s more balanced, with several hitters that are good, which lets us spread the ball out a lot more.”
The 2025 regular season starts this Saturday for West Union as the Lady Dragons will travel to Portsmouth Clay for a tri-match and they will provide the competition on Tuesday, August 19 for the North Adams opener in a match played in West Union. Peebles and Manchester will also open on August 19, the Lady Indians traveling to Western Latham and the Lady Hounds hosting Piketon.
