Volleyball team closes out season, looks to next year

RANDOLPH – In terms of wins and losses, the Randolph volleyball team finished on the more disappointing side of the ledger.

However, seeing a roster full of players getting their first real run at the varsity level helped to boost real team growth as the campaign wound down.

Randolph finished 5-23 and recorded a subdistrict playoff win over Santee 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-21) before falling to No. 1 Wynot (25-11, 25-14, 25-14) – who won the tournament – in the semifinal.

“The girls did what they needed to do to get the first game win,” Randolph coach Lyndsee English said. “We were serving aggressively with the team recording 18 ace serves. We did have quite a few hitting errors, but we were able to do enough to overcome that. We were focusing in that last week of practices on not losing momentum and on not having any letdowns.

“I felt that it was important for us to get the win in three sets, so I was proud of the girls for going out, competing, and finishing the game strong.”

Jacey Bartels (eight kills, eight digs), Katarina Greiner (four kills), Ella Scott (seven aces, 16 digs), Lexi Backhaus (20 assists) and Taylor Mavis (five aces) came up big against Santee.

The loss to Wynot ended the season and English said it was more of how well the champs played rather than any Randolph deficiencies.

Bartels (four kills), Backhaus (10 assists) and Scott (14 digs) were the top performers for Randolph. Scott surpassed the 1,000-dig mark for her career and finished at 1,016 as she will now graduate out.

“We are so proud of Ella for reaching it,” English said. “She’s had an amazing high school volleyball career here.”

Scott thought the season had plenty of positives despite the struggles in the win column.

“We definitely improved from start to finish,” Scott said. “There was a lot of positions that needed to be filled and I think a few of our younger girls definitely stepped up. We finished with the 5-1 with Lexi and that worked out good for us.

“Every single game we switched up our rotation somehow. It really got the girls to step up and prove their point in their positions because they know that it’ll be taken away from them if they don’t (play hard). Our defense definitely was great this year because we were having troubles blocking in the beginning, so we worked on it. We’ve tried working on that all year, and it kind of improved.”

English said the team’s record wasn’t amazing and the season wasn’t quite as they envisioned, but there was more to judging success.

“I feel like the season was a success by looking at the improvement the team made as a whole and the growth of each player individually,” English said. “We went through a few lineup changes and we had different girls step up at different times during the season. We went from running a 6-2 with two setters to a 5-1 with Lexi being our only setter on the floor. Lexi stepped up big this year. She is always wanting to improve her skills and striving to be better. She focuses on learning from her mistakes.

“Jacey had a great senior season and was someone the girls could look to for leadership and to come through big in that outside position. Ella was defensively sound all season long and was great at pushing the girls to play at their best. Katarina stepped up this season in the front row. She worked on being more aggressive and she focused on reading the floor and trying to be strategic with her swings and tips. Taylor had a strong season as an opposite hitter on that right side. This was a move for Taylor as she was used to playing in the middle previously. She made the transition without complaint and was another player who showed great leadership to our younger players.

“This was a very fun group of girls that I was proud to coach,” English said. “They had a desire to be better and I strongly feel that they accomplished that. We wish our six seniors the best as they move on to their next adventure in life.”

English said now the team needs to get to work in the offseason and see new leadership rise in the face of losing six seniors.

“Lilly Kuchta and Sydney Robinson are two freshmen that earned a lot of varsity playing time this season,” English said. “By the end of the season, they were both starting varsity. Lexi and Mabel Ngebeh are two sophomores that played varsity all season and I know they will both continue to find their confidence and I have high hopes for both of them in the next couple years. I strongly feel that things will continue to improve for our program.”

Scott echoed that sentiment. “Even at the junior high level, the girls look really good,” Scott said. “There are a lot of girls playing who are really good. So, I think the future looks good for the team and Coach Lyndsee definitely has the winning mentality and she wants the best for the program and the girls themselves. I see things going up.”