Boerne High graduated seven seniors from last year’s varsity volleyball team and head coach Tisha Pettibon said it’s fair to call 2023 a rebuilding year, but Pettibon added that every year is a rebuilding year to her.
“You’re rebuilding every year because you don’t have the same team from the year before. I feel you build a team every year that can be successful when it’s time to compete in district,” she said. “This team has never played together so at the beginning of the season; you’re trying to develop chemistry and work through matches and sets.
“Right now we have to build team chemistry, which is timing with setters, finding a way to increase tempo when we’re in free-ball play and learning the things that as coaches we expect them to do,” Pettibon added.
Boerne only returns five letter winners from last year and three starters.
A look at the team
On this year’s roster is Haley Wheeler, Presley Mullins, Holly Reeder, Morgan Naylor, Ceci Theriot, Kynsie Jones, Hannah Yost, Adyson Hudson, Calynn Ramos, Aubree Stegall, Kinsley Sawyer, Ava Rocchio and Paige Stegall.
Rocchio and the Stegall girls are the three returning starters from last year and Pettibon said they’ll have expanded roles this year.
“Ava, Paige and Aubree were starters, but none were six rotation players,” she said. “This year they’ll have to be.”
Naylor is the only senior and while they may be a young team, Pettibon said they’re hungry.
“They’re asking me if we can work on things in practice, they’re like sponges,” she said. “Those are the kind of thing you look for, kids saying they need to get better at this and can we work on this tomorrow.”
Pettibon said the young players just have to get used to the speed of the game at the varsity level.
“It’s all faster and its making the brain think and move faster,” she said. “Everything is different.”
A look at the district
Last year, Boerne High didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in a long time and the main reason was because of the district they are in.
Davenport won District 27-4A, Wimberley came in second, followed by Fredericksburg and Navarro, then Boerne, Canyon Lake and Bandera.
The Lady Hounds finished with a district mark of 5-7 and did beat second-place Wimberley at home last year for their biggest win in 27-4A.
BHS faces those same teams again this year and Pettibon said the district is still loaded.
“The top four were in the top 15 (in the state) going into district play last year,” she said. “It wasn’t for lack of effort that we didn’t make the playoffs; we were playing good teams.”
Davenport, Wimberley and Navarro return a lot of players, but Pettibon said Fredericksburg is in a similar situation to the Lady Hounds.
“Fred graduated a lot of seniors, so we have an opportunity there,” she said. “They’re going to be like us, putting some kids together for the first time.”
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