IAC VOLLEYBALL: WAVERLY'S SINSABAUGH HAPPY TO BEGIN DEFENSE OF FIRST-EVER SECTION IV TITLE (13 PHOTOS) (2019-08-22)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportWAVERLY - A year removed from the program's first Section IV title, Waverly volleyball coach Kesha Sinsabaugh is looking forward to trying to defend that title as the 2019 preseason opens.
"It's feels good to be back out on the floor," said Sinsabaugh. "There's definitely a different feel around here this year.
"We have six highly-skilled players coming back," she noted. "There's a little more anticipation heading into the season
"We have a game-to-game goal we want to meet, but we definitely have the end-goal to get back to the Section IV finals, and be able to play in the state tournament again," added Sinsabaugh.
She said the numbers are solid.
"We have 10 on varsity and 12 on JV.
"I'm pleased," said Sinsabaugh. "We had a bigger turnout for both teams than I was expecting.
We have some newer players, one who converted from another sport (Sidney Tomasso) and one who moved into the district from Candor (Aryan Peters), who was the starting libero on the Candor JV team last year.
"It's exciting. I was worried about defense," added Sinsabaugh, referring to Peters' arrival on the scene. "We have a lot of hitters, but we lost a pretty good libero to graduation ... being able to gain a defensive specialist is exciting."
One weak point in last year's championship team was communications on the floor, noted Sinsabaugh. It's been the main focus early on in the preseason.
"Talking and communications is going to be our main focus this preseason," she said. It hurt us at times last year. Hopefully, we can build it up this year, and continue it through the season."
Waverly will scrimmage Sayre and Athens Wednesday at Athens, and will play at Towanda Thursday in a four-way scrimmage.
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IN PHOTO: Waverly's Paige Lewis.
