Park Hill, South Dug for the Cure

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and each year around the country individuals, schools, and organizations host events to raise funds to promote awareness and research. Last week the Park Hill and Park Hill South volleyball teams participated in a Dig For The Cure match with both teams sporting pink jerseys along with family and friends in the crowd. Pink overwhelmed the inside of Park Hill’s gym while outside in the hallways a silent auction was held.

“The cause is so important, more important than the game, and we’re bringing awareness to these young athletes,” Park Hill coach Lindsey Hood said. “We had several survivors come in to speak to us because one out of eight girls gets breast cancer, so it really is important to highlight.”

T-shirt sales for the game raised nearly $2,200 with an overall goal of $5,000 being set when combined with the silent auction and donations. This is the third year Park Hill has hosted or participated in a Dig For The Cure event.

“The gym is crowded and it’s a rivalry game, so whatever we can do to bring awareness to the cause,” Hood said.

As for competition on the court, the Panthers defeated the Trojans in two games, 25-21 and 25-9. Park Hill South would go on to win against Lee’s Summit North 25-22, 25-20 to end the week. Park Hill beat Truman in conference play 25-23, 25-15 before going 3-1 in the Grain Valley Spikefest Tournament with wins against Oak Grove, Fatima, and Smithville.

“I’m really proud of our girls this second half of the season, which is the most important part. They’ve really just been coming together and what we’ve been doing on our side,” Hood said. “Servicing seems to be our bread and butter, if we’re not producing there we’re not producing in other places.”

Park Hill is now 15-11 on the year while Park Hill South is 20-2. This week both will wrap up their regular season before looking to the district tournament. Park Hill will take on St. Joe Central in the first round of Class 4, District 16 play 6:30pm on October 22^nd at Liberty. Park Hill South notched a first round bye and will play the winner of Winnetonka/William Chrisman in the semifinals of Class 4, District 15 play on at 5:30pm on October 24^th at William Chrisman.

Park Hill South spikers stay hot, Park Hill growing

Last week’s matchup between Park Hill and Park Hill South, which left the Panthers with a lopsided 25-15, 25-13 victory, was one featuring two teams in very different positions after three weeks of play.

On one hand, Park Hill South, who won the Lee’s Summit North Invitational over the weekend, has one of its most experienced and talented teams in recent memory and is currently off to an almost flawless start to their season; one which might have them on course to be one of the state’s final four teams at the end of October. A closely contested loss last week to Lee’s Summit West is the only blemish on the Panthers record, which also includes a national tournament victory in Orlando, Fla. over Labor Day weekend, where they won every set they played.

“That’s kind of how we’ve been playing,” Park Hill South coach Debbie Fay said. “We’ve got some pretty good talent. There isn’t anyone kid who is our go-to. We’ve got seven kids that play and they have pretty dominant roles and they do them right every night.”

With high expectations coming into the season, Fay says her Park Hill South squad has met them all.

“My expectations with all the kids have been right on, they’re living up to them,” Fay said. “There isn’t one kid that jumps out or is taking control more. Ashton (Anderson) is doing a real good job of running the offense and giving them opportunities. If anything can improve it is just return a real aggressive ball more efficiently, but that just takes practice. It’s hard to do because there aren’t a lot of opportunities to face that."

On the other hand, Park Hill is trying to put the pieces together as a team that has pushed through the struggles of being a young squad in previous years and fulfill the potential of its players. Park Hill coach Lindsey Hood says it is just a matter of the players growing into their positions.

“We just have to get stronger,” Hood said after the loss. “We’re still lagging in offense where we don’t have the go-to hitters that can put the ball down. We have good ball control and can find holes in the court, but we’re lacking that go-to person right now.”

The Trojans rebounded over the weekend with quality performances at the Lee’s Summit North tournament by beating Grain Valley, Columbia Hickman, and Staley after a slow start to win the consolation bracket. Park Hill is looking to use that momentum towards the rest of the season and see that good-to-great transition to take place, which they believe will happen.

“They were excited, focused and I could not have asked for more out of them,” Hood said of their tournament performance. “They showed team work and got the task at hand done.”

What Park Hill South faces, and even to a broader extent Park Hill, is an increasingly competitive Kansas City volleyball scene, which could leave even the best of teams at home when it comes to playing in the state playoffs. Part of that is a positive indictment of the quality of play in the area while the other is a state playoff format which has seen little change from its original format.

“There are probably four or fives teams good enough to make the Final Four, but the problem is only one gets to (from Kansas City). Every year there are more and more good teams, so it keeps getting harder and harder to get out of the Kansas City area. It’s just the level of play has grown that much. We may be just as good as some of the Park Hill South teams of the past that made the Final Four, but so are the other schools,” Fay said. “In every other sport besides volleyball, they’re taking more teams to the playoffs or adding classes, but the format is the same now as it was 30 years ago when I first started.”

Park Hill hosts St. Joe Central Thursday while Park Hill South hosts Truman. The two teams next play each other on October 9^th.

FALL PREVIEW: Park Hill South Volleyball

Park Hill South volleyball is known for its high expectations and with seven returning letter winners from a 31-5 team that won conference and district titles last season, 2012 will be no different. It is part of a culture developed by head coach Debbie Fay that’s resulted in more than 750 victories over the course of her career and will once again force other teams to put a target on the Panthers.

“These are kids that have played varsity for quite a few years. I can’t say we’re the underdogs or we’re young and starting over,” Fay said. “They have some expectations on them and they need to step in and up-hold that.”

Seniors Tori Kerr, Lindsey Yager, and Skylar German will lead the Panthers along with junior Ashton Anderson who will take charge and run the offense. Other starters coming back with experience include juniors Claire Friedliun and Maddie Palmer as well as sophomore Sami Nay. On any given night, each is capable of being an impact player, something which will make this squad a tough one to matchup against.

“I have a great group of kids that can bond together, the chemistry is good,” Fay said. “If they stay healthy, I think we’re going to have a good time. They are really hard workers, probably one of the hardest working groups I’ve ever had.”

While the Panthers return experience and talent, their one weakness is in their lack of size, so it will be key to use their balance on the court and quickness to control and move the ball efficiently. Fay says the thing which will bring it all together is the team’s quality chemistry.

Park Hill South welcomes Lee’s Summit West and Park Hill into their conference this season, which present unique challenges, but before conference play gets started, the Panthers will travel to Orlando to play in a national tournament over Labor Day Weekend which will be a unique experience for all.

“I’ve never taken a team that far before,” Fay said. “They’ve been a good, hard working group so I figured ‘let’s do something fun for a special group of kids’.”

Park Hill South volleyball wins Winnetonka Tournament

After a loss to Liberty on the road in the season’s opening week, Park Hill South’s volleyball team was hoping in the back of their mind that they’d have the opportunity for revenge this past weekend at the Winnetonka Tournament. From across the bracket, their only chance would come if they advanced to the championship match. They not only earned that chance, but they did it in convincing fashion as they dominantly advanced out of pool play and through the title bracket.

In fact, the Panthers didn’t loss a single match in the final three rounds of the tournament as they defeated Liberty North in the quarterfinals (25-9, 25-20) and Smithville in the semifinals (25-14, 25-20). They topped it all off with 25-19, 25-22 wins against Liberty to vindicate their early season loss and claim the Winnetonka Tournament’s team title, adding another chapter to the two teams history of battling for Northland volleyball supremacy. Emma Hagedorn led the Panthers with 36 kills in the tournament while Tori Kerr added an extraordinarily high amount of aces with 24.

For South, it concludes a successful week in which they added two wins against Fort Osage and Winnetonka and increased their overall record to 9-1. The Panthers will look to make it two tournament titles in a row this weekend as they travel to the Lee’s Summit North Tournament. As a fairly young team and one not considered having size as an advantage, the Panthers’ success must come from fundamentals and chemistry, more so than most teams.

“Emma (Hagedorn), our senior, matches up with these team well size-wise, she’s our tallest player. It’s a big kids game so the bigger teams have the advantage,” head coach Debbie Fay said. “Since we’re not real big overall, that means we really have to move the ball a lot and have longer volleys.”

Having a balanced team aids that need and reinforces each player’s individual importance and role.

“Ball control and a balanced offense, we count on everyone to score. Team chemistry, hustle, and doing our jobs each night,” Fay listed as her team’s strengths. “Passing is important. The team that passes well has the best chance of winning. Servicing and passing are the keys to our success.”

Following this weekend’s tournament, the Panthers will head into the heart of their conference schedule.

VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW: Park Hill South ready for another solid season

Park Hill South’s volleyball program has been able to continuously reload year after year since the school opened well over a decade ago. The 2011 will be no different as they look to imitate, if not exceed, their 24-6-4 record from last year which included an undefeated 12-0 conference championship. Head coach Debbie Fay says there are certain things required to be a part of her team and stepping up is just one of them.

“At South we teach all our players to be ready to fill shoes the next year,” Fay said. “We have a level of play that is expected and a work ethic that is hopefully improved upon each year they are in the program. It helps to be consistent and to not settle.”

With that in mind, the Panthers will be replacing two seniors coming into this season. Returning are two key pieces to last year’s team: the sole senior, middle hitter Emma Hagedorn who lead the team in blocks while second in kills last year and junior Tori Kerr who led the team in kills. Fay says Kerr is one of, if not, the hardest workers on the team as she never takes a play off and that Hagedorn has taken her skills to a new level in addition to being a positive reinforcement for younger players.

Joining them in the active varsity rotation will be Ashton Anderson, Claire Friedlund, Skylar German, Lindsey Yager, and Emma Eickhoff. There will be some other athletes that will fit in the mix as well and Fay admits it is nice to have more depth than usual this season. Together they’ll be looking to defend and repeat as conference champions and avenge a district title game loss in which Winnetonka defeated South on their home court in two games.

While South has proven they are an annual contender, Fay says the individual players and how a team bonds together can make a difference.

“Teammates matter and you have to play to make your teammates shine,” Fay said. “Then and only then do you have the best opportunity to reach your goals.”

A simple, but tough adage to stick to for Park Hill South will be ‘win the games we’re supposed to’. They’ll refer to this as they battle local competitors Liberty, Staley, and two rematches with Winnetonka and use back to back weekend tournaments at Fort Osage and Truman in October to gear up for what they hope is a run through districts and into the Missouri state playoffs.

Park Hill South volleyball looks strong again

A stellar 29-3 season last year for the Park Hill South volleyball team resulted in a conference and district title before concluding against Blue Springs in the state sectionals. After graduating three seniors, the Panthers are looking to reload again with another talented group.

“We have some good kids back and they’re excited to have another great year,” head coach Debbie Fay said.

She has high expectations from each group of seniors she coaches which include consistency and hard work.

“What works for us is that our expectations are always similar," Fay said. "They feel the pressure and do the best they can to succeed."

Middle hitter Lauren Brentlinger, outside hitter Courtney Churchman, and setter Laura Eller all bring back strong varsity experience as seniors for South along with Lindsey Pusateri who will also add to the mix and contribute this year. Brentlinger has already committed to attending Pittsburgh State University next year to play volleyball.

Junior middle hitter Bridget Paulk, sophomore outside hitter Codi Smith, and outside hitter/libero sophomore Lauren Blair will also see significant playing time.

“Our conference is a great conference," Fay said. "There’s a lot of talent from everyone we play, which makes everyone better. As for districts, it’s tough and is always a battle.”

Look for the Panthers to strongly compete for a conference and district championship again this season hoping to have another opportunity to advance to the state playoffs.