2019 PREVIEW: Girls' Varsity Volleyball

Comments from Coach Ray Hedden, who begins his fourth season coaching at Cooper.

The Season
Every year a team starts having to find their identity. This year we walk in with a good mix of defense and offense. After graduating four starters last year, we knew we would be a young group this year. That means we had to come in, find the chemistry early and learn how to win with different players on the court. Offensively we are a better team, having improved our play at the net and adding some dynamic athletes to the roster. We also do a phenomenal job defensively, playing with a high volleyball IQ and out-hustling most teams, which makes us a difficult team to play. I think we will frustrate a lot of opponents.

Goals
I am really excited for this season! I want to refocus our efforts around defense and ball control while not losing our touch with effort, teamwork and fundamentals. The girls have done a good job so far concentrating on those areas. After finishing third and first in our past two tournaments, I am very happy with both the varsity and JV teams executing on those directions. We see the effort, teamwork and fundamentals in place from last year and building stronger this year. The varsity and JV teams have a lot of new faces who bring a new energy, which makes coaching them a ton of fun. They have always been a fun group, but this year seems to have more edge to them. I think we will make a run at the title again this year as long as we keep building and improving.

Varsity Roster
This year’s squad consists of returning members Anna Claire Adam, Hailey Huettel, Lauren Harkness, Tatum Threadgill, Olivia Overbeek, Laura Weatherford and Jenna Braun.
We have added Cooper newcomers Amaya Harrell, Valerie McKeever, Gretchen Godwin, Amy Van Der Linden, Gracie Minarovic, Yasmin Sebastiany, Rivers Kolesar and Lauren Wolford.


2019 Dragon Roster
1 Jenna Braun Junior
2 Gracie Minarovic Freshman
4 Olivia Overbeek Junior
5 Lauren Harkness Junior
6 Amaya Harrell Junior
7 Gretchen Godwin Junior
8 Hailey Huettel Senior
9 Anna Claire Adam Senior
10 Rivers Kolesar Freshman
11 Lauren Wolford Sophomore
12 Amy Van der Linden Sophomore
13 Yasmin Sebastiany Senior
14 Laura Weatherford Sophomore
15 Valerie McKeever Senior
17 Tatum Threadgill Sophomore

2018 Team Accomplishments
Season Record: 24-11
SPC Record: 2-4
SPC Tournament: 2-1
SPC Championship: 9th place
SPC Zone Rank: 5th
CHSM Tournament Champions

Coaches
Head Coach – Ray Hedden
Assistant Coaches –Jennifer Peyton and Katie Henry
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The John Cooper School is an independent, non-sectarian, co-educational, college preparatory day school. Our mission is to provide a challenging education in a caring environment to a diverse group of select students, enabling them to become critical and creative thinkers, effective communicators, responsible citizens and leaders, and lifelong learners.

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