On Nov. 5, 2013, at Granite City High School, something just didn’t seem right. After the Edwardsville varsity girls’ volleyball team lost to their conference rival, O’Fallon, in three sets, it just seemed unfinished. This team with so much talent, confidence and hope, was not supposed to end their season this way.
The team from last year lost six seniors, and four of them are playing college ball. Katie Shashack (SIUE), Lynsey Wright (Missouri State), Camrey Saye (Ashland) and Lauren Corby (Arkansas Pine-Bluff). “We definitely lost a successful starting line-up and great leaders,” said senior middle hitter Korrine Croft. “But I believe this year we can be just as successful, if not more, with hard work and determination.”
Edwardsville volleyball has won seven straight Southwestern Conference championships, and the team’s goal is to make it eight. “We not only want to win the SWC title, but we want to get farther than we made it last year in the playoffs,” sophomore setter Nicki Meyer said. “We don’t want to experience the feelings we did after the O’Fallon (sectional semi-finals) game.”
Although the fall season hasn’t started yet, the girls still worked improving their team chemistry. The team played several tournaments throughout the summer with a variety of different lineups. “We had several girls injured and a lot of them travel,” varsity coach Jami Parker said. This gave Parker the opportunity to experiment with different players in different roles.
The team finished with a record of a little above .500 this summer. However, the Tigers didn’t have their whole team and the competition that they played in the summer is more competitive than it is in the fall. “It is not a great predictor for our fall season,” coach Parker said.
“There is not a lot of girls that started last year, however, we still have some pretty good depth in the upperclassmen,” coach Parker said, “for how big our class was, there are some older girls that are waiting for their chance to start.” Seniors will be returning starters Korrine Croft and Autumn Harris. Lauren Cook and Amayha Dycus are also seniors, and will be in the mix in getting playing time. In addition to the four seniors, the Tigers will have five juniors Rachel Anderson, Annie Ellis, Allison Blume, Sydney Wright and Lexi Sikora.
Senior Amayha Dycus is a transfer from Hawaii. She lived in Edwardsville until her sophomore year, when her and her family moved due to her dad being in the military. Dycus had a varsity uniform her sophomore year and should be a big part of the Tigers this year.
Junior Lexi Sikora is a transfer from Colorado. Sikora lived in Edwardsville until eighth grade. She will also be in the mix to get some playing time this season.
The first time you can catch the ladies in action will be at home on Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. against Waterloo.
