The Perry volleyball team finished 7-26 in 2017 and when the season ended the statistical categories were nearly depleted by graduating seniors. That left the 2018 Jayettes forced to replace almost all of the effectiveness of the team, with the result a 7-32 season.
Despite the struggles, head coach John Fulton has remained positive, noting the sizable challenges the team faced this year and the much better position the 2019 squad will be in thanks to the efforts put forward the past several months. Senior Mackenzie Ayers, Stephanie Garcia and Gabby West will depart, but leave having helped set the foundation of what should be a promising future.
“Our seniors did a great job leading this team this year,” Fulton said. “Only Gabby had any true varsity experience coming into this year, but all three had a lot of growth and did a great job of leading by example.”
Perry struggled to score this season, totaling only 438 kills. The Jayettes continually damaged themselves while serving, finishing 1,135-of-1,314 (.864) with 136 aces. Their efficiency ranked 44th of 48 Class 4A teams.
However, as is often the case, their are often more to statistics than just raw numbers. Bondurant-Farrar was 43rd in serve efficiency but finished 34-2 and will play in the state tourney, thanks to 624 more kills and 76 more aces than the Jayettes.
Those discrepancies are just one example of understanding that where a team stands cannot always be understood by a simple review of stats, a position it is clear Fulton holds.
“Our goal this year was to ‘learn’ how to play together,” he said. “We had to replace 95 percent of the offense and defense from the 2017 team, so we didn’t really know where everybody was going to play and who was going to score for us. Our sophomores and freshmen did a great job of stepping up and learning positions for us.”
Sophomore Kacy Nevitt lead the team in kills with 198, with Jasmine Shrive adding 68, West 62 and Ayers 39, with Quinn Whiton distributing 339 assists while Nevitt added 30 blocks and West 21.
Junior libero Magley Orellana set school records for total digs (326) and digs per set (3.66) in a season. Shriver had 186 digs, Ayers 106, Garcia 83 and West 53.
Nevitt served 150-of-197 behind the line but led the team with 46 aces. Shriver was 196-244-20, Whiton 211-240-13, Ayers 188-203-12, Jayna Kenney 138-152-10 and Orellana 96-108-13.
“It will be great to see next year as we have a lot of talent both returning and getting added to the mix from our junior varsity team,” Fulton said. “We will still be young next year as well, with Magley and Mary Ann Riesberg being our lone seniors returning with significant varsity experience for us in the back row. We will put in the work this offseason and with another year of growth we will see what we can do.”
