TRINITY — Courtney Willis, the Lady Tigers’ new volleyball head coach, has high hopes for her first year.
Hailing from New Caney, Willis said growth is the expectation for the struggling team, that and setting realistic goals.
“In talking with the returners, they said last year they only won 3 games, so this year, I said let’s make it 6,” she said. “So, for this year, we will do much better than last year, and I have high hopes for the season.”
Willis will do that through building up the program and building up the players — helping the team be proud to be in volleyball while setting standards and instilling high expectations.
“We’ll be getting a love for volleyball back, and instill some pride and love for the game,” she said. “We’re working hard on the fundamentals.”
The team does have a lot of freshmen while only having one senior, one junior and three sophomores, but enough players came out to field varsity and JV squads.
“They’re a great group of kids, and they want to be taught,” Willis said. “They want to be coached. Essentially, it’s the start of a program; I know there has been volleyball here, but not really successful.”
To help will be team leaders, such as Carolyn Cleveland, the lone senior, who is now a setter and plays with her sister, Valerie Cleveland, who loves to hit; Jasmine Jordan, who is returning and is the libero with a decent set of skills; and Ashara English, who is emerging as a team leader and pushes the conversation, which is important to teamwork, Willis said.
