JACKSONVILLE - With seven seniors graduated from last year's 25-4 season and a Final Four finish, the reputation of Trinity Christian Academy volleyball precedes itself even among a team of new faces, and Fleming Island High volleyball coach Amy Yoder was excited to see her team take on the raucous crowds known for TCA home games and the one senior on the team that has instilled fear in opposing teams in senior hitter Amaria King.
"She is one of the best hitters in the state if not the country and I think we have great defenders," said Yoder, who entered the Trinity Christian gym at 8-5 and with a long weekend of tough play including a Thursday 3-1 battle with 5A champion Middleburg and a fourth-place finish at the Friday/Saturday JJVA River City Classic with an overtime loss to Creekside, the eventual tournament runner-up to Hagerty. "The team has steadily improved and gotten stronger as a unit and our schedule will test that this week."
For Yoder, after a dominant, front-loaded performance from her net attackers including freshman Lillie Eason, senior Kaylee Kirkland, senior Emily Topp and sophomore Lauren Brosky, plus flashes from sophomore Kaylee Clark in a thrilling game three with senior Savannah Jackson, that registered a 3-0 win over Trinity Christian on Monday, the strategy was simple.
"Some teams may try to keep the ball away from her (TCA King), but I was confident that my girls could challenge her at the net and they did," said Yoder. "Kaylee, a junior varsity player from last year, stepped up big in the third game to ignite our defense against King and Savannah, as one of the smallest outside hitters in the area, ripped her shots against their big blockers at the net."
With libero Bailey Montgomery flying around the defensive back line for Yoder and retrieving the lightning bolts that King occasionally sifted through the block attempts of Topp, Brosky and Kirkland, it was senior Edel Kibbe, who provided some sparks on the offensive front despite a huge knee brace and cover on her recently repaired knee, to add her version of powerful blows into the Trinity Christian defense and past the ever present King and teammate Tyauna Williams, both six foot plus defenders.
"I play on a club team with Amaria King and I kind of know her tendencies," said Kibbe, a transfer from Bolles. "My knee was perfect and we had a good little battle out there."
Yoder must rev up her team's engine for this week's schedule of three more road games with trips to Orange Park, Nease, and Menendez next up.
"I told them to go home, sleep, rest, and be ready to go," said Yoder. "I'm seeing them move to hate to lose more than loving to win and we are going to take that attitude into the district and region runs at the end of the season."