For The Tribune
BROWNSTOWN
Brownstown Central volleyball coach Jennifer Shade said sometimes records can be misleading.
Shade’s team finished 15-17 this fall, including a second-place finish in the Mid-Southern Conference.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
She said that although the record wasn’t as good as she or the players was hoping for, “it doesn’t reflect our outstanding season. Taking losses isn’t easy. The girls could have folded after losses, but they wanted to practice the next day and that shows character.
“We had 14 girls on the team, and it wasn’t easy to get playing time. The key is they all got along. They came along way from where they started to where they ended.”
Shade said that the reason the Braves’ record wasn’t as good as in the past is because the team is playing a tougher schedule than it did in previous years.
Also, the Braves are in Class 3A, a step up from where they were in as recently as three years ago.
The Braves ran into Providence in their first sectional match and lost. Providence went on to win the state championship.
Shade and other members of the coaching staff honored the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams with an awards program in the school auditorium Monday night.
Senior Morgan Wehmiller was named the teams’ most valuable player, received the serving award and was named to the Mid-Southern all-conference first team.
“The MVP goes to someone who is on the floor all the time,” Shade said of Wehmiller, who plays all around the rotation.
Abby Brown received the mental attitude award.
Shade said the mental attitude award, “goes to somebody who shows up every day and gets you up when you are down. She was a leader on the floor.”
Brooklyn Snodgrass and Danielle Meyer received multiple honors.
Snodgrass received the defensive player of the year award for having 310 digs for an average of 10.3 per game.
She received the passing award for having more ‘3’ passes than anybody else on the team.
Shade said a ‘3’ pass is a high quality pass that the setter can easily set for the hitter to attack.
Snodgrass was also named to the All-MSC first team, and was named to the All-State second team.
Meyer received the hitting award, the blocking award, and was named MSC honorable mention.
Richayla Huff received the assists award.
Shade said she despises individual awards because all season she talks about playing together as a team and then presents awards based on school policy.
She said the MVP and mental attitude awards are voted on by the players, and all the other awards are based on statistics.
Brown, Maddy Pace and Madison Turner were named Academic All-State honorable mention.
Meyer, Wehmiller, Pace and Huff participated in All-Star tryouts hit past weekend.
Brown, Meyer, Pace, Laura Pence, Cassidy Sawyer, Turner and Wehmiller were the seniors on the team this fall.
Shade said she felt like the seniors had an outstanding career, and she challenged the underclassmen to work hard in the off season to try and bring a state championship to Brownstown in the near future.
“You won’t remember the bad of the season, you will remember the good. You will look back as it being a great season.”
Meyer and Pace received their letter jackets.
Freshman coach Janelle Deck introduced members of her team and said they had a record of 13-2.
Junior varsity coach Cassidy Wurtzburger’s team went 11-6, and she presented the most improved award to Grace Jaynes.