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PITTSBURG —
Pittsburg volleyball held its first practice Monday, Aug. 13 in the Pittsburg Community Middle School gymnasium.
“It was pretty good,” head coach Mary Packard said. “We had to be flexible because our gym wasn’t ready. So we kind of had to scramble. I had to send the girls text messages. They were here early and we got started on time.”
Packard wore a T-shirt on the first day displaying back-to-back Southeast Kansas League championships in 2010 and 2011, both seasons 8-0 for the Purple Dragons. A favorite cliché: IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BEST, YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST.
“I feel like we have a target on our back all the time, which is a compliment,” Packard said. “We look at it as a compliment simply because we’re finishing high enough in our league. It’s a little different league this year because there’s only seven teams without Iola and Columbus. I always believe the teams in our league are very competitive and the same thing this year. It’s a hard road. Certainly, winning league’s our goal but it’s tough with the teams in our league.”
League championships are won in the offseason and Packard discussed her players’ offseason work ethic.
“They worked their tails off,” Packard said. “The varsity girls put a lot of hours on the court. We had a lot of open gyms that everybody was invited to, we went to a Southeast tournament, we went to a Fort Scott league and we played pretty good but we still need to get better. They had a lot of time in the weight room. They put the time in, they earned it and we’re ready to get moving.”
Pittsburg graduated Skyler Muff (now on the roster of UMKC, a Div. I program) and several varsity contributors (Megan Burdick, Ashley Willis, Morgan Rhue, Liz McFarland and Erin Duncan).
However, a trio of varsity stalwarts — Andie Casper, Alaura Short and Lizzy Willis — returns for their senior years. Junior classmates Mercedes Vogel and Bethanne Elliott have plenty of varsity experience from last year alone.
“We lost several girls but our philosophy the last several years has been that we’re not relying on any one person,” Packard said. “That certainly happened last year when Skyler (Muff) broke her arm and then somebody else gets injured. We do have a good senior group. They’ve done offseason volleyball and they’re the ones who were all in the gym working out. It’s different but it’s different every year.”
Pittsburg volleyball held its first practice Monday, Aug. 13 in the Pittsburg Community Middle School gymnasium.
“It was pretty good,” head coach Mary Packard said. “We had to be flexible because our gym wasn’t ready. So we kind of had to scramble. I had to send the girls text messages. They were here early and we got started on time.”
Packard wore a T-shirt on the first day displaying back-to-back Southeast Kansas League championships in 2010 and 2011, both seasons 8-0 for the Purple Dragons. A favorite cliché: IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BEST, YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST.
“I feel like we have a target on our back all the time, which is a compliment,” Packard said. “We look at it as a compliment simply because we’re finishing high enough in our league. It’s a little different league this year because there’s only seven teams without Iola and Columbus. I always believe the teams in our league are very competitive and the same thing this year. It’s a hard road. Certainly, winning league’s our goal but it’s tough with the teams in our league.”
League championships are won in the offseason and Packard discussed her players’ offseason work ethic.
“They worked their tails off,” Packard said. “The varsity girls put a lot of hours on the court. We had a lot of open gyms that everybody was invited to, we went to a Southeast tournament, we went to a Fort Scott league and we played pretty good but we still need to get better. They had a lot of time in the weight room. They put the time in, they earned it and we’re ready to get moving.”
Pittsburg graduated Skyler Muff (now on the roster of UMKC, a Div. I program) and several varsity contributors (Megan Burdick, Ashley Willis, Morgan Rhue, Liz McFarland and Erin Duncan).
However, a trio of varsity stalwarts — Andie Casper, Alaura Short and Lizzy Willis — returns for their senior years. Junior classmates Mercedes Vogel and Bethanne Elliott have plenty of varsity experience from last year alone.
“We lost several girls but our philosophy the last several years has been that we’re not relying on any one person,” Packard said. “That certainly happened last year when Skyler (Muff) broke her arm and then somebody else gets injured. We do have a good senior group. They’ve done offseason volleyball and they’re the ones who were all in the gym working out. It’s different but it’s different every year.”
Pittsburg opens its season Saturday with a quadrangular hosted by Girard also featuring Columbus and Fort Scott.
Girls Tennis
Every year, high school tennis begins its season before cross country, football, golf, soccer and volleyball.
Pittsburg head coach John Seal expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming season on the night of the Purple and White Scrimmage last Friday.
“All our varsity kids are back and the next three are also back,” Seal said. “We have our top nine back and not only that, all our kids have improved over the summer. Katy Short, playing No. 1 singles, has been tremendous. I’m just happy with her. I’m real happy with my doubles right now. I have eight doubles players who can play at a high level. They played today and they played tremendous. We’re talking depth and when you have depth in practice, it’s beginning to show. When you’re challenged in practice, with either play or drills, that’s what happens.”
Seal said that varsity and JV spots are playing themselves out with competition intense at singles and doubles. For example, MaKayla Pichler and Jessica Curlee defeated Laikyn Long and Emily Baden 8-7 and 12-10 in a tiebreaker during the Purple and White Scrimmage — both pairings are in the running for No. 1 or No. 2 doubles. Megan Reed, Brittany Wilde, Olivia Laidler, Katie Phalen and Emily Curlee are in the running for singles spots.
“Practice has been awesome,” Seal said. “Cooler temperatures have helped. But we’re still working and I’m very happy with them. We’ve got eight new faces and we’re wanting to get them in gear and we’re doing that. We’re trying hard. . . . Really hard work this summer from a lot of them.”
When asked for teams to watch for in the Southeast Kansas League this season, Seal had a very simple answer.
“Always Independence and Parsons,” Seal said. “Fort Scott will be good.”
Seal aims for a rigorous, challenging schedule every season and tries building up a program with plenty of playing opportunities for younger players.
“We play at Mill Valley,” Seal said. “Aquinas is in it, Blue Valley North, De Soto, that’s a tough tournament. We’re playing Lamar in two varsity matches where we use our other players and not just our varsity. It’s a varsity-level match where we’re getting other players involved in a varsity-level match. That’s going to help us.”
Pittsburg opens its varsity season Thursday at perennial power Parsons. The JV squad won 11 of its 12 matches in the season-opener Monday.
Soccer
New will be a key theme for the Pittsburg soccer team — a large freshman group (12 according to its head coach) and a new playing field at Pittsburg High School.
“We’ve got a young team heavy on sophomores and freshmen,” Pittsburg head coach Wraine Meadows said. “We’ve got a large freshman class with traveling team experience in Joplin. I’m certain some of them will be playing varsity by the end of the year.”
Meadows identified goalkeeper Gershom Avalos, defenders Josh Dial and Tri Palmer and midfielders Shannon Dial and Alex Salas as key returning players this season. Pittsburg graduated Sean Perkins, Efrain Salas, Casey Steinmiller and Colt Killmer — Perkins was All-SEK first team and Salas and Killmer second team. Avalos made second team last year.
“Everybody’s real excited to get started,” Meadows said.
Pittsburg opens its season on the road against Fort Scott and plays its first home game Sept. 10 against College Heights.
Cross country
Head coach Gary Ausemus could not be reached for comment.
