Palestine Volleyball 2016

Palestine Volleyball Looking Forward to 2016

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

PALESTINE – After suffering through a less than stellar 2015 volleyball season, VB Coach Kym Chapa is ready for the 2016 season to get underway and after early season wins, she is optimistic about her team as it moves forward.

Asked what excites her about the game, Coach Chapa replied, “I like the speed of the game and how much it has evolved in the last 10 – 15 years. It so much more fast-paced and there is so much more to it than six people rotating around the court, like it used to be.”

Regarding this year’s team, she said, “We have three returners with Summer Hagan, Faith Newman and Jaila Cook. Those are only returners. Coming up from JV we have Dominique Lacy who we have already named her as one of our captains. We are really excited about her. She is one of our middle blockers. We also have Lexi Robinson and she will be our libero this year.”

When asked what a libero does, the coach said, “She is a defensive specialist. She can only play in the back row and can’t play in the front row. What is unique about the libero is she can go in for anyone in the back row. In volleyball, you can only sub one person in for another person. It’s not like in basketball where you can sub somebody in in for anyone. In volleyball, if I sub in for you, I can only continue to sub in for your spot. When you have a libero, she can sub in for anyone in the back row at any time. The other unique thing about the libero is in volleyball you only have 18 subs. Any time the libero goes in, it doesn’t count against you.”

As to how she got interested in volleyball, she said she played while she was in junior high but switched over to basketball when she hit high school. “I did basketball, softball and cross country. When I went to college, I played softball and basketball in college. I knew I wanted to be a coach, so when I started coaching, my first coaching job was as a volleyball coach. It’s funny, any time I’ve been anywhere, I’ve coached volleyball. I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve coached volleyball under some really great coaches. Basically, I kind of got thrown into it and didn’t start to appreciate it until I was coaching it,” she said.

“My biggest thing is chemistry and who works well with each other. You can’t teach, you just have to find it. It ties in with teamwork in that you may have two girls that are friends but they’re too nice to each other. Or, they are too aggressive beside each other. I think a lot of it is finding the chemistry between who works well on the court with each other. Teamwork is a big thing and chemistry is a big thing and you have to let things go and let someone else have success,” she said.

Looking at the district schedule, Chapa said one of the teams she is looking forward to seeing is Athens. “They are new in our district and we don’t know a whole lot about them yet. Then, I would say Mexia because they were our only district win last year. I believe Fairfield and Madisonville will be tough for us, even though against Madisonville last year, the second time we played them, we went to five games and only lost by three points. They will still be really tough,” she said.

“Of course, we have pretty much a whole new team this year. We have already played Groesbeck this year and we beat them. They were number two in our district last year. Granted, they aren’t the same team, but it was really big for us. This is only my second year here but quite a few people who have been here awhile were surprised and said ‘We never beat Groesbeck.’ The community is excited, the girls are excited and I’m excited so we just want to make sure that success continues through the rest of the year. It’s a long season and one little thing can make it go a different way.”

HOW I SEE IT: The Ladycats are in a five team district along with Athens, Fairfield, Madisonville and Mexia. Look for Fairfield and Madisonville to duke it out for the district championship, while Mexia and Palestine scrap for the third seed. It appears Palestine may have the edge this year and makes a return trip to the postseason.