By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
High school volleyball season begins this week with five 9th Region teams ranked among the top 25 in the state by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association.
Perennial powers Notre Dame and St. Henry are No. 3 and No. 13 in the preseason rankings. Over the last 10 years, Notre Dame has won seven 9th Region titles and St. Henry claimed three.
The region’s other state-ranked teams are No. 17 Conner, No. 18 Ryle and No. 25 Beechwood. Conner has the area’s only returning first-team all-state nominee in 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter Charlotte Patton, who finished 15th in kills per set (4.91) in statewide statistics.
“I don’t think it puts pressure on me,” Patton said of her all-state status. “I think it just helps me realize I need to show up in some sort of way for our team.”
Conner lost to St. Henry, 3-0, in the opening round of last year’s 9th Region tournament and finished with a 26-10 record. Patton had 17 kills in that match to give her a total of 511 in her first season as an outside hitter.
In her previous varsity season, she posted 296 kills playing in the front row for Cougars’ coach Doug Rabe.
“When I was a freshman, I was a middle (hitter),” Patton said. “So it was harder to set for me and I didn’t have as many chances (for kills).”
This summer, Patton played outside hitter on a Tri-State Elite club volleyball team that she said placed fifth in a 16-under age group bracket at the AAU national championships in Florida. She said college recruiters talked to her between matches.
“I work all the time on hitting and I also do speed and agility training,” Patton said. “We work a lot on my vertical jump. Jumping higher enables me to hit over the block more.”
Conner has both setters — Shylyn Koerber and Alexis Kampsen — returning from last year’s team. They had a combined total of 909 assists with Koerber also providing 265 kills, 282 digs and 58 service aces in the rotation.
They’ll be getting the ball to Patton as much as possible once again after her 500-plus kills last season.
“I would love to increase it,” she said of her previous kill total, “but I’m not really worried about the number as long as we go out there as a team and win some games.”
Three local players who were named second-team all-state last season will also be back on the court in season-opening matches this week. They are Brossart middle blocker Callie Ritter, Beechwood outside hitter Isabel O’Brien and St. Henry libero Kenadi Sieg.
In last year’s final statewide stats, Ritter was No. 1 in blocks per set (1.97) and her teammate, Aubrey Rebholz, was No. 5 in assists per set (10.0).
Last year’s state honorable mention list included Beechwood setter Skylar Estep and Notre Dame outside hitter Teagan Kondik.
Kondik, a starter on last year’s state runner-up team, and Sieg have both made commitments with the University of Cincinnati and O’Brien was recruited by Bellarmine University in Louisville. Koerber accepted an offer from Fairmont State University in West Virginia and Estep will go to the University of Virginia-Wise. Both of those teams compete on the NCAA Division II level.