FARMINGTON -- Farmington graduated seven seniors from a 2014 team that reached the state quarterfinal in their first season competing as a 5A school.
The Lady Cardinals return most of their hitters but head coach Marshall Ward must retool the back line.
"We have almost all of our hitters returning, we just lost all of our defense," Ward said.
Five seniors return to the Lady Cardinal lineup along with four starters and two part-time starters. Six players begin each match on the court but because of the rotation a team could have as many as 12 starters. Ward says that is highly unusual and the number is generally between 8 to 10 starters. Most teams will have at least two good athletes, who play both back and front positions. Helping Ward retune the Lady Cardinal defense are seniors Liz Williams (libero) and Tkeyah McDaniel (defensive specialist). Bailey Fowler is a returning starter, who can also play back row defense and is also well-suited to play middle hitter or outside hitter on the front line.
"She's a good all-around volleyball player," Ward said.
Middle hitter Alexis Shelley is another returning starter, who Ward notes led the team in kills during the 2014 state tournament. Trish O'Connell figures prominently in Ward's plans as an outside hitter.
"She is our returning hitter. She's a very powerful hitter," Ward said. "She attacks the ball from above the net, has a great vertical [jump] and a hard swing."
Junior Kaylynn Bates returns as a starting outside hitter, a spot she earned as a sophomore.
"She led the team in aces and that was an exceptional team and she led us in aces throughout the season," Ward said.
Junior Claudia Oxford started some games last year at middle hitter and has moved to right hitter this season. Ward thinks she has good potential at the position.
"She is actually doing very well at the right side hitter," Ward said. "I expect very great things from her for the next two years."
Junior Callie Harper, daughter of Farmington head baseball coach and defensive coordinator Jay Harper, is a natural leader as a setter.
"You can tell she's a coach's daughter. At the setter position it's very beneficial to have a player like Callie Harper," Ward said. "That's the natural mindset for competitive people. They just love competition. Sports or not sports, when it comes to grades they want the highest grades in the class. They want to be on the winning side of it and if they're not, they want to find a way to get there."
Anna Dutton recently moved from outside hitter to middle hitter and Ward is liking the result. Dutton played outside hitter the last three years but Ward says she is a natural middle hitter.
"She belonged in the middle the whole time. She reaches, blocks very well, hits very well and has a good vertical," Ward said. "She will definitely see some varsity minutes this year."
Callie Phelan is a junior defensive specialist, whom Ward wants serving as often as possible.
"She has an excellent serve and she plays good defense," Ward said. "She has the potential to lead us in aces this year but we have quite a few girls with that potential this year."
A late season surge enable Farmington to secure the fourth and final spot among 5A West teams seeded in the 2014 state volleyball tournament held at Valley View High School at Jonesboro. Not content with just making state, Farmington upstaged No. 1 seed, Hot Springs Lakeside (20-25,25-21,25-23,25-21) before ending tournament play in a five set (25-18,11-25,16-25,25-23,14-16) loss to Nettleton in the state quarterfinal.
"To lose 16-14 in the fifth set, that's the closest volleyball match you can have. You're supposed to play to 15 but you have to win by two. We pushed them as far as we could," Ward said. "To go past 15 points in the fifth set, it doesn't get any better than that."
"Moving up in classification was very tough on us. I felt the 5A West was significantly stronger than 4A. The goal was to make it to state, which we did, then to advance was fantastic."
If Ward has his way the Lady Cardinals will do that again.
Sports on 08/19/2015