Volleyball Preview: Leverett's Chapel resets, rebuilds for new season (2024)

With a new head coach and four core players graduating last year, the Leverett’s Chapel volleyball team is resetting in many ways this season.

Tiphany Bowers, formerly assistant coach, took over the program feeling both nerves and excitement for the big challenge ahead of the Lady Lions.

“After losing four main players, I was worried about this year. But now I’m not at all,” Bowers says after the Lady Lions’ first week of regular games.

She cites the team’s respect for her coming in as the new head coach and the energy and high hopes they’ve shown in practice and at games as all good signs for the program’s stability in a rebuilding year.

“We’ve got a lot of potential right now. Our serves have gotten a lot better…They’ve really improved on passing. Day one, balls were going everywhere,” Bowers adds. “The main thing we need to work on is transitioning. And we’ve got to learn to talk as a family.”

The team has had a couple of warm-up games at a West Rusk play day, a regular game with Gary and a tournament at Overton, all good opportunities for the team to “get the brain fog worked out” says Bowers.

The key players were graduated were longtime varsity leaders Jasmin Chavez, Jayden Pierson, Jackeline Avalos and Isaira Avalos. A mixture of upperclassmen and underclassmen are working hard to fill their shoes this year, including seniors EmmaLeigh Stroman, Alison Riley and Crystal Castro. Underclassmen like junior Alyvia Page, sophom*ore Palynn Butler, and freshmen Bailey Ingram and Brynleigh Seymour are also going to be players to watch.

Stroman, Page, Ingram, Butler, Castro and Seymour are starters, with Castro playing libero and the other serving in the middle and outside.

Stroman will be in the middle, a position she was nervous about handling for the first time, but her confidence has steadily grown in these first few weeks. Ingram, a talented freshman who says she looks up a lot to the upperclassmen, has boundless energy on the court that fuels her teammates. She’s expected to be a big part of the team throughout her high school career.

LC is in District 23-1A this season, staying with Neches, an East Texas 1A volleyball powerhouse, and Trinidad, a team LC is less familiar with playing.

LC’s first district game will be on Oct. 11 at Neches. Until then, their preseason includes games with Rusk, Ore City, Bishop Gorman, Tyler All Saints, Elysian Fields, West Rusk, San Augustine, Waskom, Tyler Classical, Carlisle, Union Hill, Longview Christian Heritage, Kennard and Cushing.

— Audrey Blaschke can be reached at ablaschke@thehendersonnews.com.