Whitley Volleyball

Whitley County volleyball coach Derrick Lowrie said this will be another “athletic” team he will put on the floor. “We will have an athletic team, but we will be about 50-50 in experience,” said Lowrie. “We will have 10 freshmen and eighth graders, 10 junior varsity players and 10 varsity players. We are pretty well spread out with experience and newness.”
With hard work and dedication to the program, Whitley County has moved to the top of the 13th region and is one of the top teams in Southeastern Kentucky. The Lady Colonels have won two district titles in five years and have been to the regionals four out of five years. The are looking for number five.
The Lady Colonels were 17-5 last season and Lowrie expects his team to match that feat. “Absolutely,” he said. “We expect as good of a season or better.”
“We are looking at some different offenses, so that if we need to change in the middle of a game we can,” said Lowrie.
“I expect big things from our seniors,” said Lowrie. “Brittany Fox is really hitting the ball well right now and Katie Lawson is a good all-around solid player. She is working on her hitting.”
“One of our up and coming players is Rachelle Walker,” said Lowrie.
Lowrie says several players have really came on over the summer and that includes Walker, senior Jessica Sergent, junior Brittany Dotson and freshman Brittany Howard. “Howard is actually freshman but will be playing varsity for us,” said Lowrie. “She has spent a lot of time developing her game and have gone to some camps outside of what we do and that has made her a stronger player.”
“Cassandra Turner, one of our track girls is really hitting the ball well,” said Lowrie.
Lowrie said the Lady Colonels defense will be anchored by Korrie Richardson, a sophomore, Brittany Fox and Katie Lawson. Freshman Savannah Raper and sophomore Jessica Wilson has looked good on defense according to Lowrie.
Lowrie feels his middle school feeder program will start to show results. With four eighth graders playing on the high school teams that could be soon for the Lady Colonels. “It is going to help us by leaps and bounds,” said Lowrie. “We had a sixth, seventh and eighth grade team for the first time and actually traveled to play teams like Wayne County, McCreary County, Rockcastle County and the two Pulaski County schools. We got to see some stiff competition.”
On the high school level, Lowrie said. “We are always looking for opportunities to play strong competition. We have played South Laurel in the past and this year we are going to play them twice. That’s a compliment to our team. They will be coming to us for the first time ever. Rockcastle County will also be coming to us for the first time ever.”
“We have picked North Laurel back up after not playing them for a couple of years,” said Lowrie.
“We are also playing in a couple of tournaments,” he added. “We are going to play in the Pulaski County tournament again. We played over there in the past but took a year off last year. But, we see better quality teams there.”
“Then, for the first time we are going to play in the East Kentucky Mountain Classic at Perry County,” Lowrie said. “I got reacquainted with their coach that I knew when she was here at Cumberland. Playing there will give us a chance to see teams that we would never see.”
Letcher County Central, Knott County Central, Leslie County and Perry Central are the teams scheduled to play.
The Lady Colonels will be playing three defending regional champions this year in the likes of South Laurel, Rockcastle County and Letcher Central. “That will only make us better, win or lose,” added Lowrie.
When it comes to district tournament time, Lowrie knows his team will have to face Corbin to win the district along with Lynn Camp. He expects the series with the Lady Redhounds to be another dogfight. “We know they have not lost many players and will have a good team, but we will scrap with anybody and it won’t be a blow out either way. It usually never is.
Lowrie is hoping his team will have chemistry by the end of the season. “If they will work together as a team on the floor through the whole season and get along as friends I wouldn’t really care what the record was,” said Lowrie. “It seems like every year there’s something that stirs the pot up then when it comes to crunch time we are not getting along on the floor.”