By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Ball control is the name of the game for the Niles varsity volleyball team.
The Lady Vikes begin Class A district action today, taking on Kalamazoo Central at 4:30 p.m. at Portage Northern High School.
Head coach Linda Goodrich and her team know they are going to have to be on top of their game to compete with some of the powerhouses involved in the tournament.
"The Class A District in Portage is very strong with powerhouses Portage Northern and Portage Central. The game is played at a much faster speed and higher above the net than what we see in our regular season," Goodrich said.
Niles has been hard at work, trying to clear any and every dent in their game. Goodrich said the main area of focus has been ball control.
"We have a great passing unit with Karly Kennedy, Sam Brawley, Stephanie Stoops and Kaylynn Stephenson, who will be relied on to get our game going," Goodrich continued. "We have been running a lot of serve receive offense and concentrating on strong blocking."
Tonight's opponent, the maroon and white Giants, will definitely bring a challenge to the floor. When asked to talk about Kalamazoo Central, "In a word – tall! They are a very strong blocking team and it will be tough for us to control the net. I think we'll have to wear them out with defense and need some aggressive serving," Goodrich said.
The serving of Kennedy, Patty Anton and Mehgen Flynn will hopefully help the Vikes as Goodrich said all three have been coming on strong the past few weeks.
"Mehgen, Patty and Katie Bourbonnais each play in a position across the front row and Sam, Maddy Peterek, Karly and Kaylynn can play anywhere across the back depending on what the other team throws at us. It really is the strongest team from top to bottom that I have been fortunate enough to work with," Goodrich said.
Goodrich said her team plans to continue what they have been doing all year – keep all the hitters involved on offense and move the ball around.
"The team is very competitive with each of our varsity members capable of being a starter at any point. Each player has the ability to play multiple positions on the court and we really have the ability to change our game plan at any time without losing intensity.