By Scott Lockwood
It's always the most exciting time of the year for me. Everyone chirps and hoots and hollers because it's football season. Don't get me wrong, I love football just as much as any other, however, I have completely been taken over by a love for another sport.
The game of Volleyball has held number one in my heart for a number of years now. It Started with the 2017 playoffs while working with WWCB radio. My very first match I covered was a playoff game and I didn't know a lick about the sport, but it quickly captivated me. So much so that I made it my personal mission in 2018 to cover the sport all season long. So I left the radio station, headed out on my own with a cell phone and a razer gaming headset and started streaming games to Facebook Live.
At the end of that year, I was written two checks as a thank you for our coverage. One from the Goodsel's and the other from the Corry Volleyball boosters. And with that, DeeJ Experience purchased our first camera and DeeJ Experience Productions was born. I found those checks when we moved to our new office as they were mobile deposited. We have every intention of framing them (without the bank account numbers of course). I tell you this because it is significant to what happened on the court last night in the Beaver Dam.
Last night the Corry Beavers Volleyball team had a lot going on. Before the Varsity match, they celebrated some very special accomplishments by some great you women. Halle Albers will likely achieve 1,000 career digs next week, ranking seventh on the all time career stats list! She has recently surpassed 500 kills and ranks number 10 on the all time career list and has recently surpassed 220 service aces and ranks third on the all time career list.
Makenna Moore surpassed the 1,000 dig list late last season and will likely pass 1,400 for her career. She current ranks number two on the career list and is 69 digs away from passing 2019 graduate Hope Hasbrouck "The Human Highlight Reel" as I use to call her. Hasbrouck holds the all time digs record with 1434. Makenna is also seven service aces away from 250. She ranks number two on the career list behind 2020 graduate Maddi "ACE" Vona who holds the record with 283.
Aubrey Chase collected her 635th kill last night, putting her seventh on the all time career list surpassing Brooke Joncas' mark of 592. Chase one more ace to hit 150 aces in her career.
Payton McCray ranks third on the career assists list behind 2019 graduate Megan Dennis (2,672) and 2020 graduate MEG Goodsel (2,279). McCray has accumulated 1718 assists in her Career.
Allison Sawyer and Sadye Dyne, are both in the top 8 of career blocks.
Sawyer is approaching 100 blocks as she currently sits at 90 on her career. Dyne blocked her way to number six on the list with 111 blocks in her career. She would need seven more to catch fifth place MEG Goodsel (118) and 10 more would get her to fourth all time past Ciara Davis who had 120.
When you think of all the greats that have come before in the Corry Volleyball program, these are amazing accomplishments for a bunch five foot nothing players who have shown some of the greatest athletic feats and determination that I have seen in my short 8-9 years covering Volleyball. Outstanding work from this senior class and it truly has been an honor to be along for the wild ride.
After winning the Region four championship outright by defeating North East in a Sweep, Corry Celebrated and dawned the region four champion shirts, But another Achievement was accomplished last night.
Head Coach of the Corry Beavers Volleyball team Kelly Goodsel along with his assistant and wife Pat Goodsel, have reach the 250th win milestone. Nearly 20 years ago Kelly and Pat were approached to help with the volleyball program. From the beginning their intent was to create a program with an established culture, not just a winning season or to focus on coaching their children and then move away. Any player – current or former – will tell you the goals of this program are to get better, learn, and have fun… and expectations of the participants are for the young women to be loud, confident and assertive – both on and off the court.
Kelly’s record of 250 wins and 78 losses equates to a 76% win rate, with only one losing season. The Sweep over the Grape Pickers clinch the Goodsel's ninth region championship.
Under the Goodsel's Guidance Corry volleyball has made eight consecutive District 10 finals, and of the nine total appearances in the D10 Championship match, Kelly’s teams have finished as Champions four times and as runners up five times. Each District Ten appearance qualified the team for the State playoffs with the exception of 2020 season (due to Covid, only one team moved on to states.).
With eight State appearances, Goodsel's teams had four finishes end in the round of Sweet 16, two in the Elite Eight, One in the Final Four with his daughter Brooklyn on the team, and the 2016 State Championship win with his daughter MEG Goodsel on the team.
Since 2013, The Goodsel coaching staff has produced 50 All-Region, 30 All-District, 20 All-State, and one AVCA All-American selection. If you ask Kelly, his proudest accomplishment is, along with their parents obviously, helping influence and shape amazing young women who will be our future.
The coaches want to thank the Corry school district, administrators, the various assistant coaches, fans, and obviously, the great players that have bought into the program and helped achieve this special milestone!
I have often referred to coach Goodsel as the "master chemist" or sometimes the "Godfather of Volleyball", But in typical Goodsel fashion, He never takes credit for it, He always says he is surround by the best people to make it happen. He always gives credit to his awesome support system around him. The Goodsel's are the true definition of great leaders, not only on the court but in the community. I know that I am proud of them, and the players for what they have accomplished.
Further more I will revert back to earlier when I said I have developed a love for the sport. This particular team got me in trouble about 6 years ago when I elected to cover (this senior class) at the middle school level over a varsity softball match. We sent someone else to cover the softball game which did not go so well. Our former employer wasn't impressed...but I sure was impressed with the team then and even more so now.
Perhaps another feather in the Goodsel's cap, the creation of what is now known as the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream. Not only have we taken that "get better every day" Philosophy as well as the Moncure of "We Belong Here" from the Volleyball team, but to put it quite simply, the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream does not exists without Corry Volleyball.
Without a state Championship, and the playoffs the years following it, I would never have gotten to cover Volleyball. I would have never left the radio station because I got mad that they would not let me cover the volleyball season because "It didn't make money". We would have never received the two checks at the banquet in 2018, and DeeJ Experience would not be around to cover everything that we currently do. Thank God for the past and present players who put in the effort, The Corry Volleyball Team, and the Goodsel's. I am forever grateful! You will always be apart of us!
Congratulations to all the players who have accomplished so much in the program and congratulations to Goodsel's on reaching 250 career wins and the continued work you put into the program and community. Now, lets finish the season strong!
Comments