LETS MEET THE TEAM

Returners from last seasons’ team include Abby Mendoza, Blayklee Glass, Lexi Crane, and Olivia Butler. With Mendoza and Glass having a lot of experience, the duo will showcase a lot of speed and quickness, along with a great skill set. These two will serve as two of the leaders on the floor and will more than likely be a thorn in the sides of opposing teams this season. Blayklee Glass also spoke at media days, “Our goal this season is to repeat as State Champs and we’re most definitely excited for the opportunity to defend our title, this group has worked very hard this summer and we’re up for the challenge.” Crane is returning from last seasons’ group and will see a lot more playing time this season, as she can play both front and back row, and is also one of the vocal leaders of the team. Look for Crane to have a breakout season and make a huge difference for the team this year. Olivia will also see a good amount of playing time this season and has improved tremendously from last year, as well as growing more confident. Olivia Butler had this to say at media days when asked about the work this group put in this summer, “We’ve all worked hard this off-season, so you can expect a lot of hard-work out of this team, and also the fact that we get along and know each other will help too.” With some new faces joining the team, the Jr. Lady Saints are going to be a force at the net this season, in large part due to Zoe Robertson, who is going to play front row. Zoe has vastly improved from day one of summer workouts until now, so look for Zoe to control the nets this season and make a huge impact for GMCS. Another big piece to this team is going to be Josie Pinner, as Josie showcases a top-notch serve, and the velocity of the volleyball is more varsity level than junior high level. GMCS newcomer Gracie Bullock will be a huge addition to this group, as she moved in this summer and is very athletic and catching on to the rotations very quickly. Bullcok has really bought in the program and is working extremely hard, she should be one to keep up with this season. Mattie Rogers is going to be one of the younger ones, but works extremely hard. Mattie Rogers spoke on media days about her favorite part about this group, “My favorite part about this team is that we’re all friends and that we work really well together.” The younger ones on the team beginning with Brooklyn Robertson will also contribute this season, as she is the younger sister of Zoe, but look for Brooklyn to continue to improve throughout the season. Laikyn Burns has worked really hard this summer and will continue to improve. Lilly Lauterbach will look to help the Jr. Saints this season and has shown up and worked all summer and has improved every week. Also, a couple of late additions to the team this season include Edyn Brown and Mandie Maclaughlin. This is a very talented roster and they will more than likely have one of the more athletic Jr. teams rosters around. 

THE SEASON RUNDOWN

The Jr. Lady Saints have a busy year ahead of them, as they open up with Saline Co. on the road on Aug. 12th for their season opener. Their season consist of 22 regular season games, along with a tournament at Columbia Christian on Sep. 14th. I spoke with Asst. Coach Wendy Martin at practice this past week about this schedule, “This tough schedule will look to pay dividends late in the season around tournament time, as they will look to peak at the right time. The State Tournament is set to begin on October 1st and end on October 5th and hopefully with the Jr. Lady Saints hoisting their second consecutive State Championship Trophy. GMCS is set to begin their quest this coming Monday as they travel to Saline Co. for their season opener. You can keep up with all the scores, stats, and highlights at SWARK.Today for this season.