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Young volleyball program set to improve with help of new coach

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The Mountain Grove volleyball team had a challenging end to their 2019 season. Not only did they finish last year with a 6-16-2 record, head coach Amy McNew did not return to the program.

Just when things were going in the wrong direction, the entire program received some outstanding news when it was announced that former Licking head coach Ashley Martin had accepted a teaching position at the district and was hired to take over the reigns of the program.

Just last season, Martin led Licking to its first district title since 2005 and a first trip to state in 40 years before finishing third in Class 3.

Martin was a three-sport athlete at Houston before playing four years of volleyball at the collegiate level under head coach Melissa Stokes at Missouri State University. There she and the Lady Bears made the NCAA tournament for all four years of her collegiate career.

“I wasn’t really looking to go anywhere, but the opportunity presented itself and it seemed like the right move to make,” Martin said. “I was teaching second grade at Licking, and was needing to make a change in the classroom. Mountain Grove’s position just fit. It’s been a great move for me.”

This year’s team is led by seniors Gracie Farran and Kelsey Watson.

“They’re solid hitters and will be good models for the rest of the girls,” Martin said. “We have a lot of underclassmen that will get their chance of filling roles and making a difference.”

Martin said her team overall is young and inexperienced, which is why their is focus on perfecting fundamentals and teaching players more about how the game of volleyball is won.

One big challenge in taking over a new program is doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Martin was not able to meet the team until June 1 due to rules and regulations.

“Being a new coach, that was not ideal,” she said. “Also, shootouts this summer were frowned upon, so we weren’t really given ample opportunity to see rotations and how they worked.”

This means the sets on offense are not set as of yet. A trial and error approach is being taken to see what works and what is not working.

“We have a lot of players playing different positions and filling roles they may not have seen themselves in,” Martin said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Martin is working on her players having the mentality of scrambling for the ball.

“With young players, there comes a lot of hesitation and over-thinking,” she said. “We’ve got to get rid of that and just react to the ball confidently.” 

Mountain Grove will open their season with its first home game against Conway on Tuesday, Sep. 1, which will also be the program’s Senior Night.