Baby steps would be an apt description of Ethel's first year of volleyball.
“In order to run a good offense, you have to make a good pass, you have to make a good set and you have to have somebody who can actually spike the ball. That's going to be a process for us,” said coach Chris Schuster. “We're learning how to serve and how to pass. That seems like a small thing, but it's a big thing for us.”
Ethel is among numerous schools in Mississippi that are launching volleyball programs to replace slow-pitch softball, discontinued by the Mississippi High School Activities Association as a fall sport for girls. There is no shortage of enthusiasm.
“The girls are really excited about the season. They're excited abut getting to know how to play volleyball,” Schuster said.
There are 20 players, none with any experience in organized volleyball. “They're new at it, but they are willing to learn. This year is going to be a lot of learning, a lot of improvement. We're going to be a lot better team at the end of the year than we are at the start of the year.”
Ethel will be competing in Region 5-1A with Nanih Waiya and Noxapater, two schools that have had volleyball for three years. “They have three years under their belts,” Schuster said. “I've seen so much improvement in three days. If we had three years under our belts, I wouldn't be worried.”
Playing in a seven-team region with four 3A schools and three 1A schools, Nanih Waiya was 10-9 last year and Noxapater 1-13. Due to the large increase in the number of schools fielding teams, there is a category for each of the six MHSAA classifications this year.
Schuster said the first priority for Ethel is getting the serve over the net, with a goal of at least 90 percent. “If you don't get the serve over the net, you can't score.”
It is going to be a slow process, he said. “I know it's supposed to be bump, set, spike, but we don't have a lot of bump, set, spike. This year it's going to be more getting the ball back over the net and hope they make the mistakes.
“It's a slow process, but the good thing is that we have a lot of girls who are willing to get out there and learn. It's almost like playing baseball for the first time as a ninth grader.”
Schuster also coaches the Ethel baseball team.
The volleyball includes some good athletes from the basketball and softball teams. “They just have to learn this sport now,” he said.
