Kosciusko volleyball has suspended all operations – games and practices – for 10 days due to a third positive test last Friday. Two games with Eupora scheduled for this week and Kosciusko’s participation in a tournament at Union High School Saturday have been canceled.
The team will be eligible to return from the suspension Aug. 17 for a match at Choctaw County.
According to information from school nurses, none of the three players have been around the team since Aug. 2 and there is no risk to the other players. But activities must be suspended because the Mississippi Department of Health classifies three positive tests as an outbreak. Other members of the team will be able to attend school during the suspension.
When the team is able to play, Nikki Stephenson is optimistic heading into her second year as coach.
“I feel like we are going to be really good this year,” she said.
That optimism partly results from the addition of some new players.
“We have some really good players who were added to the team,” the coach said.
They include juniors Kaitlyn Broyles and Savannah Fulgham. Broyles was on the team in 2019, the first year Kosciusko participated in the sport, but not last year. Stephenson expects Broyles to help the team on offense as a front row hitter.
Fulgham is an aggressive player and strong server, according to Stephenson.
Other key players include junior Olivia Cockroft and freshmen McKinley Dickerson and Mary Kimble Price, who was the team’s best server a year ago.
It will be a young team, with only two seniors, Bracie Jamison and Lizzie Kate Jones. The key to success, Stephenson said, will be communication and “not second-guessing their talent.”
Kosciusko won Region 4-4A last year with a 4-0 record but lost to Corinth in the opening round of the MHSAA playoffs. The Lady Whippets had two wins each against Louisville and Yazoo City. Greenwood has been added to the region this year.
“I feel like we are going to have a different attitude this year,” Stephenson said. “We’re going to be more aggressive on the offensive end.”
