The 2011 season was a big year for West Jessamine volleyball as it looked as if new head coach Debbie Rose finally got the team on the right track with a 12-11 record. This season could prove to be bigger and even more important as the Lady Colts will try to improve upon last year’s success and stay on the right track.
West has several things going its way. The first is that it returns all but one player from last year’s team — Lisa Troyer, who went on to play at Asbury.
“We have a lot of returning starters from last year, which helps,” Rose said. “They’re a pretty seasoned group.”
The Lady Colts have five seniors, including their “floor general,” Lena Samaan, and four-year varsity starters Abby Wiggins and Amy Gatliff.
Even with a nice senior group, Rose says it’s the junior class that is the strongest.
“Our junior class is probably our strongest class,” she said. “They all played varsity last year as well as junior varsity; they’ve got a lot of court experience.”
Another thing going for West is the new districts and regions. The last few years, West and East have been in a district with Lexington Catholic and Lexington Christian, preventing them from even getting a sniff of a district title, mush less of a region title.
Now in the 46th District with Burgin and Mercer and the 12th Region with other central-Kentucky schools, West likes its chances.
Of West’s 11 losses last year, four came against Lexington Christian and Catholic.
Rose says as a team, West has done a lot of work in the offseason to improve individual play.
“Now it’s just a matter of putting it all together as a team,” she said. “There’s some kinks right now which we’re working out; it’s early and our major goal is the district, region and state tournament ... Everything we’re doing right now is working toward that.”
