By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer
garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com
The Lady Wolverine volleyball team returns only four starters from last year’s squad that finished as runner-up in Region 4-3A.
Despite losing experienced and talented players to graduation, the young core behind them has already made an impact on the varsity level as well, and that confident group is looking to lead Woodruff to greater heights this season.
In her second season as varsity head coach, Tonja Westmoreland is extremely excited about what her team can do on the court this fall.
“This is like a fresh team,” said Westmoreland. “We lost eight seniors and only return four players so we are brand new. We are going to miss our seniors but this is a fresh start with some strong, young players”
Leading the way are a duo of sophomores. Libero Ruthie Sheffield and outside hitter Jensyn Turner are tenacious players with a never-stopping motor. Senior Kaitlyn Jackson is back at setter and junior Mattie Stevens returns at middle blocker. Sheffield and Turner were among the stars of last year’s team as freshman, and Jackson and Stevens provide experience and leadership for a very young team that will have but a small handful of seniors.
Westmoreland says the young first-timers to the varsity team look up to and respect their teammates as they adjust to a higher level of play.
“Those young ladies are now the veterans of the team,” she said. “Our younger players listen to what they have to say because they know each of them have been there and experienced the varsity level and see what they have already accomplished. We are already a step ahead of last season in that regard.”
Sheffield is a hard-working defensive whiz. She had a 97 percent serve percentage as a ninth grader and recorded 144 digs. On the outside, Turner added 93 digs and a team-high 49 kills. Jackson successful executed 75 assists to just two errors, and Stevens had 23 blocks and 22 kills.
That is a lot of returning production for the Lady Wolverines, and despite the turnover on the roster, there is a bevy of talented newcomers ready to step in and make an impact as well.
Juniors Carrigan Caldwell and Kara West, along with seniors Aubrey Oglesby and Bella Moore add elements of depth and stability to the roster. Westmoreland adds that it is a balanced team up and down the roster with everyone capable of contributing and eager to learn from last season’s shortcomings.
“We have been researching where we fell short last year and what to work on,” Westmoreland said. “We sat down as a team and talked about what we needed to do to get better. We have changed things up on defense and will be ready for some of the hits we missed last year. We are going to be stronger on defense and blocking. I feel like this team can go further this year and the girls are constantly doing reps to get better.”
The Lady Wolverines were impressive during a preseason scrimmage in which they played five schools out of North Carolina. Woodruff finished the scrimmage with a 4-1 record with their only loss being tightly contested. It is a good start for a team with high expectations.
Woodruff came ever so close to winning the region championship last season, finishing second to Union County after three down-to-the-wire contests with the Lady Yellow Jackets. The goal this season is to get over that last hurdle and bring home the region title and a number one seed in the play-offs. The Lady Wolverines field a team that is confident of doing exactly that.
“I think we are stronger and deeper,” Westmoreland added. “If we get tired, we have some talented players who can fill in. This group has a positive attitude and really bounce that off each other in a positive way. We have a good chance to win the region title and go further in the playoffs than we did last year. We communicate very well with one another and that keeps the energy level high. We are ready to go.”
Author: Tracy Sanders
