Alysa Sutton
GASTON – Each of the Wes-Del Warriors volleyball team stood about five feet from one of their teammates, just passing to each other over and over, first with their forearms and then with their hands. They passed while standing up, then while kneeling and then standing up again.
Wes-Del coach Biff Wilson quietly watched his team Monday — the first official day of practice and also the first official day of the Warriors state title defense — and decided to interject.
“I once saw a group of girls do this drill for 20 minutes without missing a single pass,” he let them know.
“They were only freshmen, too,” he added with a smile.
The Warriors had camp during the summer, but the last time they were officially together during the season was when they won their second state title in four years at Ball State’s Worthen Arena last November. That was in front of a large Warriors contingent with everything on the line. Monday afternoon was a much different affair: a mostly-quiet practice filled with the mundane drills — like passing to each other from five feet away — that lead to the kind of celebrations the Warriors experienced on the final day of last season.
Wilson was clear, too; summer vacation is over, as is the honeymoon period. Back to basics, indeed.
“It’s kind of hard to reset sometimes,” Wilson said after practice. “I was explaining to them tonight, we haven’t earned anything this year, except that we have a reputation of being a successful program. Year to year, you have to go out and prove it all over again, and that’s what they have to keep in mind.”
Several players from this season’s squad were absent from practice, and even more were missing from last season’s squad.
Of the nine-player rotation Wilson used last season, only three are back — Alysa Sutton, Perrie Smalley and Morgan Prather. Emily Hale has bided her time behind Kennedy Petro at setter, and she’s anxious to step up along with Jaclyn Love, Marah Reno and Paige Townsend, all of whom helped the junior varsity go 17-3 last season. Emily Hale is prepared to fill a role, as well.
“It makes us certainly want to build off last year and continue to build our program,” Smalley said. “Every year you’re going to have a different team, no matter what, and you just want to find that leadership and then find everyone else, and bring them along.”
Added Sutton, a two-time All-State outside hitter: “It’s definitely going to be different without all of the seniors, but we really need to come together as a team. It’s important for us to show that we can support each other and be there for each other.”
The next two weeks of preseason practice will be crucial for the Warriors, who went 35-3 last season but are moving up from Class A to Class 2A this season.
“They were goofing around a little bit while they were stretching, and I said something to them about focusing,” Wilson said. “Then I went to get a bottle of pop, came back and asked, ‘Does anyone have a Snickers? I’m a little grumpy when I’m hungry.’ You try to keep (the focus) at a certain level.”
For the Warriors, the next two weeks before the season opener against Daleville about is finding that level, so that the end of the season might involve another celebration.
Contact sports features writer Ryan O’Gara at (765) 213-5829. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGaraTSP.