EVERETT
The Archbishop Murphy volleyball team is setting its sights high.
It’s easy to see why.
The Wildcats return eight seniors from a squad that finished fifth at the Class 2A state tournament, the school’s best-ever showing.
“We have higher expectations than last year,” said co-captain Ashley Broadwell. “Every year we’ve gone higher – ninth my sophomore year, fifth my junior year – and this year I think we can be even better with our core group coming back.”
But Archbishop Murphy is by no means overconfident about their postseason prospects.
“We want to do well at state, but we’ve got to get there first,” said senior co-captain Rachel Shober. “We need to be focused at practice and make sure we work really hard. … We just need to worry about ourselves and not think too far ahead. We can’t assume anything. We can’t assume we’re going to state. Every single game, every single match, you can’t overlook anything.”
Second-year coach Jim Hardy appears to have most of the pieces needed for another successful season. The highest number of returning seniors prior to this year was six.
The returning senior talent gives him options for different lineups and the ability to make adjustments depending on the opposition. The talent level is as high as it’s ever been at the school.
“We’re going spread the ball around more,” said Hardy, who previously was the junior varsity coach. “We have good hitters everywhere and so we will not be as predictable as we have in the past. … We’ll be able to use all our hitters and blockers.”
The Wildcats will field a tall lineup with four players 6-feet or taller – junior Savannah Fletcher, junior Megan Carlson, senior Alyssa Smith and Broadwell — and a couple of others just a tad under 6 feet – Shober and senior Lauren Fletcher.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this tall of a team,” Shober said.
“Our blocking will probably be better,” Broadwell added. “We’ve got some big jumpers. It’ll be good.”
Smith returns to the volleyball team after taking a year off. The basketball standout is picking up right where she left off and will be one of the team’s top players, according to Broadwell.
“It’s good to have her back and she adds some more height to our team too,” said Broadwell, who plans to play volleyball at Pepperdine University.
The biggest adjustment the players are making is working with two setters after the graduation of Patti Reeves. Senior Kelsey Kohler, who will play for Regis University in Denver, and sophomore Dani Baehm will share the duties.
Both were on the team last season but in different roles. It is taking some time for the players to get used to the duo.
“I’ve never had a different setter,” Shober said. “I’ve played club before but I’ve never had a different school setter. Patti has always been setting. That was kind of hard to get used to. … Obviously it was going to be a little difficult at first, but it’s fine now.”
Archbishop Murphy’s success last season was largely due to solid serving and passing and if those two aspects of the game are taken care of, Hardy likes his team’s prospects.
The Wildcats try to keep their opponents out of their system with the goal of making it hard for teams to get the ball to their big hitters.
“There are some hitters out there that you can’t stop,” Hardy said. “You have to stop them by keeping the ball away from them.”
Should Archbishop Murphy find its way back to the state, the team’s experience will be an asset.
“I think we’ll be good under pressure,” Broadwell said.
“We kind of know how it works,” Shober added. “So hopefully that should help us if we get to go to state this year.”
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