Nice start for Lady Trojans

It was a positive start to the season for the Whitehall High School volleyball team.

The Lady Trojans finished second out of four teams at last Saturday's Manhattan Quad Tournament.

First-year head coach Sage Hengst said she saw a lot of potential from the girls, as well as some great vollies.

"I was really happy to see it come together finally," she said.

Playing for the first time in 2018, Hengst said the team started out nervous, quiet, and playing it safe.

"But by the end of the tourney they were serving difficult spots, setting up for hits and hitting hard," she said. "It made me really excited to see what comes from the season."

While pleased with the play of her team, Hengst did however say the hardest part of the tournament was seeing schools with 30 girls playing in their program, with Whitehall having about half that number which includes two players moved up from eighth grade.

"We just don't have the numbers so girls who aren't strong in certain areas still have to play them and it messes with their confidence. Our average height is around 5'6" yet these girls are going up against 6-foot-players," she said.

The Lady Trojans will next compete Thursday, August 30 at Townsend.

"After this weekend I saw them handle that height difference extremely well. I see a ton of potential and I really hope they get to show it this year," Hengst said. "I'm really excited to play our first true match on Thursday and see what the girls are really capable of."

2018 LADY TROJANS

Members of the 2018 Lady Trojans are Ashlynn Ellison (captain), Hannah Bieber, Morgan Benner, Katie Whitehurst, Meagan Johnson, Kendra Klapan, Hannah Tebay, Asha Noyes (captain), Haley Briggs, Dalaney Scafani, Emily Smith, Maxine Hoagland and Anna Nelson.

The assistant coach is Kayla Simon.