Volleyball Looking to Take the Next Step

Over the past four seasons, the King Philip girls’ volleyball team has accumulated an impressive 68-12 regular season record, thereby earning themselves three number two seeds and a four seed in the Division 1 Central-East Tournament. Although the Warriors have controlled their regular season foes with relative ease, the tournament is a totally different story.
While the Warriors were breezing through the Hockomock undefeated along the way to their second straight Kelley-Rex Division title, they’ve run into two teams in the tournament who seem to have their number. During their four-year stint, KP has lost to Quincy (3-2) in the Semi-Finals twice and fell to Newton North (3-0) in the Semi’s once as well as in the Championship last fall. As this season gets underway, KP will be looking to once again get back into the tournament but hopefully with a different outcome.
“Our goal once again is to capture the Hockomock League and get back to the Division 1 Central-East Sectionals,” King Philip coach Kristen Geuss said. “We’ve set our expectations high, as we’ve done in the past, and I think that we’ll be very competitive in the Hock again. I’m hoping that once we get to the sectionals that we can take it one step further this year.”
Last fall the Warriors had some really good athletes, including two-time Hockomock league MVP Sydney Phillips, who played well together and pleased the coach with their performance en route to the Championship game. With some big shoes to fill, Geuss knows her players will come to play.
Senior captain Kat Kmetz and junior captain Grace Ely will look to fill the outside hitter roles, while seniors Shayla Weitzman and Jessie Kornfeld will be the team’s defensive specialists, the coach hoping the duo can play consistently in the back row. In the past, the Warriors have been a well-rounded team that prided themselves on their defensive play.
Geuss is looking for her two middle hitters--junior Catherine Waldeck and sophomore Nicole Coughlan--to aid Kmetz and Ely in scoring.
“We’ll be looking for Catherine to finish off the scoring points for us, while Nicole, who is on the younger side, to follow suit and learn the position to its fullest,” the coach said. “Both have looked extremely promising so far in practice.”
Senior right side hitter Caroline Robertson was a key component in the team’s blocking schemes last year, but Geuss will be looking to utilize the senior as an offensive weapon this fall.
Sophomore Emma Brooks, who played on the freshman squad last year, and junior Kiley Sullivan, a junior varsity player, will be the team’s setters this season. Also seeing court action will be sophomore Lillian Carlow (defensive specialist) and Kristen Masse (an all-around player who will see time at outside hitter and in the back row).
In order to be successful and return to the Sectional Championship for the second year in a row, the Warriors will need to be more consistent with their play, while relying on their strong serving.
“We can play with the best of them, we just need to be able to finish,” Geuss said. “We need to set out our big hitters and get them in the right position and then finish off our points.”