Reflecting on the Lady Spartans 2024 season, Coach Tricia Messmer looks back to two weeks before the season and is proud of the growth the team has seen during what she describes as a rebuilding year.
“It was two weeks before the season and a volleyball coach hadn’t been hired. Being their senior year, I think it ended up being co-coach Carmen (Weber’s) daughter and of course my daughter Mariah who convinced us more than anything to step up and coach,” Messmer shared. “We lost a lot of seniors and Ashlyn (Weber) was the only previous starter. She was a libero last year and transitioned to an outside hitter this year. Mariah and our other senior Taylor Braun played last year but didn’t start. Add that to a lot of younger girls on the team and it was pretty much a whole new team, we started over.”
Messmer said a lot of time in camps over the summer helped the team form a bond and aided the coaches in formulating how the players fit together.
“The different camps all summer long strengthened their connections. The biggest strength as a team is that they’re a close-knit group even though it’s freshman up on to seniors,” Messmer explained. “The older girls pull up the younger girls and they click. They are good leaders on and off the court and that led to the team as a whole being aggressive and getting to the ball. It surprised me how scrappy they became throughout the season.”
Looking forward, Messmer said she’s unsure what will happen with the coaching position, however she holds much hope for the future of the Lady Spartans.
“They are a young team with height, lots of depth and they play 100%,” she said. “I really feel there is so much potential the next couple years. They are going to go places.”