Scott Lockwood
DeeJ Experience, LLC
Photo Credit: Barb Beebe
The Corry volleyball program hosted the first scrimmage of the 2024 campaign with Union City, Fort LeBoeuf, and Saegertown in attendance on Tuesday. After a hard first week of practice and the first match of the season slated for next Monday, August 26th, it was good to play some outside competition. The Corry varsity returns 9 seniors who have all played varsity for a couple of years and have high expectations for the season: Halle Albers, Sydney Woods, Makenna Moore, Aubrey Chase, Payton McCray, Sadye Dyne, Kendyll Chamberlin, Allison Sawyer, and Emmalee Carr. The Corry JV team has a nice blend of experienced sophomores and new freshmen that were exciting to watch play for the first time this season. “Both the varsity and JV had nice runs of success, and let’s call it… some opportunities for improvement, throughout play. We have three more days of practice this week before we hold our second and final scrimmage at Maplewood on Saturday; then we are off to play the Freeport Yellowjackets next Monday,” said head coach Kelly Goodsel. One thing that DeeJ Experience will be watching closely this year is the records books. Although they are kids and the most important thing for them is to have fun, learn, and get better… It is always fun to watch the hard work pay off. This group especially. They have defied all odds for being a rather short team and have made up for it with their extreme pure athleticism. Records that we will be watching this year are obviously the Career Ace Leader. That spot is currently held by 2020 Graduate Maddi Vona. Her record could be broken this year by Moore who would need 71 service aces to do so. And wait…. there is more! Albers can also make a charge up the all-time Ace leaderboard as she sits fifth all time with 181 service aces. She had a team-high 67 service aces last year and 33 or more this year could land her at least third on the all-time list. She has an outside shot to topple the record but would have to outdo Moore this year and beat her 2022 single-season record of 98 with at least 103 aces. As we said, it’s a long shot. One thing is for sure, two of the top three servers on the ace list all time will take the floor in their senior year for the Beavers! Another record that Moore could chase down this year is the all-time Dig leader. That record is currently held by 2019 Graduate Hope Hasbrouck with 1434 career digs. Moore would need 361 digs to do so. With a total of 1,074 already, Moore is on pace to shatter the digs record after a 525-dig performance as Libero last year. McCray has solidified the number three spot on the all-time assists’ leaderboard. She does have a long shot to take over second place currently held by 2020 graduate and now assistant coach MEG Goodsel with 2279 career assists. To do that, McCray would need to shatter the single-season assist record, held by Goodsel with 919. McCray would need 943 Assists on the year to take over second place all time. Megan Dennis is the current all-time leader with 2672 career assists. Both Chase and Albers can ascend the all-time kills leaderboard with a good season. Dyne and Sawyer can climb the all-time blocks list as well. At the end of the day, we are just media and fans who love the sport and talk numbers but make no mistake about it, this team is extremely deep and there are some good players who could cut into some playing time. They are a team first and foremost and the theme for the team this year is trust. Trusting their teammates, trusting their coaches, and you can trust in the fact that they are going to be fun to watch! Some would even say a push into the state playoffs is not out of the question or even expected with this heavy senior-laden team. Expectations are extremely high and you’re going to want to get out to the Beaver Dam and cheer these volleyball rockstars on this year! And if you can’t make it, we will have you covered on the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream all season long! It starts Monday on the road with a two-plus-hour trip to Freeport to take on the Yellow Jackets at 7:00 PM. Watch all the action all year long online at www.deejexperience.com/corry-beavers!
Comments