Mehlville coach looks at ‘a rebuilding year’

Mehlville High girls seeking to improve on 12-14 record.

By BILL MILLIGAN

August 31, 2010

Head coach Susan Hurt predicts 2010 will be an interesting year for her Mehlville Senior High School girls’ volleyball squad. Bill Milligan photo

After finishing 12-14 last season, Mehlville Senior High School head volleyball coach Susan Hurt still is wondering how her team will shape up in 2010.

“We’re definitely in a rebuilding year,” Hurt said. “We don’t have people from club teams anymore. Definitely rebuilding. We’re inexperienced basically. It will make things interesting.”

Hurt is sure that 6-foot-1-inch outside hitter Lauren Cliffe will be back, as will 5-foot-8-inch middle Jessica Fox and Taylor Danter. Former softball player Ryen Manes also will make a contribution.

Beyond that, Hurt is waiting to see what happens among the 15 or so others who came out for volleyball this fall.

“I hope to have a senior setter — we have two sophomores and we just had a girl transfer here from a parochial school,” she said. “That will make a difference because she’s a defensive specialist. We’ll just have to wait and see if she’s eligible.

“I have no idea if I’ll be running a 6-3 or a 5-1,” she said.

Many of the girls playing varsity this season were on the junior varsity last year.

Hurt nodded toward Amanda Fox, a junior who appears to have a shot at winning an outside hitter position.

“We’ve got some good size,” she said. “We had 17 or 18 try out for both teams, so we had to make some cuts. We’ll take what we got and work with them. Hopefully, they’ll be successful. As long as the girls work hard that’s all I can ask.

“I’ve been fortunate enough I haven’t had to reinvent the team very often. This is one of those times. After I had that team that went 32-2, I had to do some coaching, then I caught some girls that had some experience. This year, they’re not working together yet. It just takes time for them to gel.”

Mehlville Girls’ Volleyball

Sept. 2-3 Marissa Tournament A TBA

Sept. 7 Union A 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 Lutheran South H 5 p.m.

Sept. 9 Nerinx Hall H 5 p.m.

Sept. 11 Rockwood Invitational A TBA

Sept. 15 Fort Zumwalt West A 5 p.m.

Sept. 16 Fox H 5 p.m.

Sept. 17 Webster Groves H 5:15 p.m.

Sept. 21 Marquette H 5 p.m.

Sept. 22 Notre Dame H 5 p.m.

Sept. 23 Oakville A 5 p.m.