Showing some serious hops, Manchester freshman Hayden Rideout (10) makes a return in the Lady Hounds’ conference loss to Fayetteville on September 2. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Surrounded by her teammates, Manchester’s Kenidee Turner makes a return as the Lady Hounds hosted Fayetteville in SHAC action on September 2. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The early portion of the 2025 schedule has been a bit of a struggle for Coach Morgan Johnson and her Manchester Lady Greyhounds varsity volleyball squad as the young Lady Hounds, with just two seniors on the roster. are off to a 1-4 start after last week, 1-3 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. One of those four defeats came in the Hound Pound on September 2 at the hand of a very solid Fayetteville Lady Rockets roster.
The Lady Rockets were a bit more experienced than their hosts, with a roster that includes three seniors and four juniors and they jumped right out in the first set to a 6-0lead with senior Ava Baker rattling off a pair of service aces and sophomore Tegan Combs adding two kills, two of the nine she would garner in the match. The Lady Hounds battled back with a couple of kills from freshman Hayden Rideout to draw within 7-4 and kept the set close at 13-11 after a service ace from Abby Lucas and a Bristynn McClanahan kill. After the Lady Rockets got the serve back, the set turned sharply when sophomore Ellie Sheffler stepped back to serve and reeled off five straight points, two of them aces, to put the visitors up 19-11. With Maya Murphy at the serve, the Lady Rockets roiled through the rest of the set, winning it 25-13.
The start of the second set mirrored that of the first with the Lady Hounds falling into an immediate 5-0 hole and again battling back, pulling within 7-5 after a Rideout service ace. Again, though, Fayetteville pulled away to a 13-6 lead behind the serves of junior Christina Murphy. Back came the spunky Manchester girls, getting six consecutive service points from McClanahan to forge a 14-14 deadlock. After the teams traded the next four points, with a service ace from Addilyn Hunter pulling the home team within 18-17., but again the set took a dramatic turn when the side out went back to Fayetteville. The Lady Rockets finished the second set with seven of the last eight points to take the set 25-18 along with a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
With the big lead in the match, the Lady Rockets laid the hammer down in the third set, racing out to a 12-2 advantage, after the Lady Hounds took their only lead of the entire match at 1-0 on a Lucas kill. With freshman Maddie Easter on serve, Manchester drew back to within 12-6 only to again to see the visitors pull away with eight of 10 points to lead 20-8 and with junior Ava Corsmeier serving out the final four points, the Lady Rockets took the third set 25-9 for a clean sweep in the match.
The schedule then did no favors for the Lady Hounds as they had to travel to North Adams two nights later to face the Lady Devils, with North Adams winning in three sets, 25-9, 25-7, 25-14.
“We do have a relatively young team, but I don’t see it as a weakness, Said Coach Johnson. “Our two seniors show leadership through their experience and ability to keep the girls level headed. We do have a lot of room for growth and improvement, but that encourages and drives me as a coach to share my knowledge and passion for the game. These girls have had 4-5 coaches within the last five years, we are looking to build a culture that strives off of consistency, commitment, discipline, winning-mentality, team-play, perseverance, determination, and passion.”
“Our weakness currently is our mental toughness, which I also pose as a strength in a sense. As an athlete I was my biggest critic because I wanted to be the best and I wanted to correct my mistakes. As a whole we dwell on the plays and series that already happened, things that are out of control. I am happy that they care about the game and they want to improve, but we have to learn to let go of the plays that we can no longer change and work on bettering the next ball to get the point.”
“Our goal for this season as for any team is to provide wins for ourselves, our school, and our community,” Johjnson continued. “At the varsity level, the main focus is to win games and have a good record. Our goal individually as a team though is to improve our communication, create strong minds to build our mental toughness, have fun, and continue to play as a team encouraging one another each play. Our goal is to rebuild the culture as the Manchester High School Volleyball program and it all begins in junior high, which I am very pleased with what our coaches Brooke Kennedy and Maggie Roberts are doing with seventh and eighth grade. I believe myself, Coach Dunn, and the junior high coaches have similar coaching styles and knowledge of the game which will be beneficial transition to high school. We have the same expectations for our girls and we want to build a strong foundation, consistent/disciplined culture, and winning-mentality in the volleyball program that has been missing for some time now.”
Coach Johnson’s squad was scheduled to be back in action on Monday, September 8, hosting Portsmouth Clay and then back into conference play on September 10 with the long trek to Fairfield.
