The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Sports

September 4, 2008

Volleyball action gets under way

By Steve Keenan

A decade ago, Meadow Bridge initiated Fayette County’s first high school volleyball program.

With the addition of Oak Hill this year, that number has now quadrupled (Fayetteville and Valley also compete).

At Meadow Bridge, coach Tim Goode is in his first season at the helm after 11 years coaching in Raleigh County.

“This is the 10th year for us (the Wildcats),” says Goode, who acknowledged the growth of the sport in the county. “We were the first county school to have it.”

Although new to guiding the Wildcats, Goode said he’s seen several positives so far from his 13-member squad.

“We’ve been to (summer) camp for the first time, and we did rather well,” he said. “And there’s something special about this bunch; each player is an honor student, and six of them are 4.0 students.”

Meadow Bridge has nine of its 10 players returning from 2007. Holly McGuire was the lone departure. In addition, four newcomers join the program.

A drawback is that Meadow Bridge doesn’t have a feeder school with volleyball, Goode pointed out.

“They start in the ninth grade and we have to teach them from there.”

Goode says several players are making solid progress, including sophomore Kristen Redden. “Kristen has played extremely well at the net,” he said.

Also, sophomore Connie Callison provided strong serving in a recent scrimmage against Mountain State Academy, and senior Whitney Martin “plays very, very good backcourt.”

Meadow Bridge opens its season tonight at Fayetteville against the Pirates and Greater Beckley Christian.

In Smithers, Valley coach Dreama Bodkin, whose team is in its second year, feels the Greyhounds have and will continue to make progress.

“We won a couple last year, which was better than anybody expected,” said Bodkin. “We did real well and saw a lot of improvement.”

This year’s roster features 12 players, including six returnees. “That’s a good start,” Bodkin says. Meagan Evans and Megan Begley are senior captains. Other returnees are juniors Elizabeth Beard and Brooke Belmont and sophomores Sabrina Sizemore and Kaitlin Williams.

Bodkin said she’s tried some “aggressive scheduling” this year. “We’re hoping to win some matches this year.”

Valley began the 2008 campaign last night at Fayetteville.

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com

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