ORANGE PARK - With volleyball teams around the county opening up their gyms for tryouts, St. Johns Country Day School will unveil it's latest coaching change with a coach that has been successful in a handful of spots.
Amy Walker, formerly of Orange Park High, Fleming Island High and, most recently, Florida State College-Jacksonville will take over for the Lady Spartans after a district title season from former alum Jenna Williams.
Williams is head coach with a recent 1A district title for the boys volleyball at Harvest Community School in Jacksonville. Williams will also be coaching girls at Harvest in the fall; boys in the spring season.
Walker, who has a resume full of district titles and region playoff berths from her tenure spots in Clay County back to the early 2000s, brings a wealth of high-competitiveness to the Spartan program that got a burst of late season energy; winning five of six last games with the district championship and a region opener loss.
Walker comes in with a strong lineup fueled by the net power of Kendall Proffitt, who also is a major player for the girls basketball team.
"I'm back, Bella (DeLeon) is back, Brooke (Butler) is back, so we have a good batch of returners," said sophomore Kendall Proffitt, expected to be as much a scoring leader in volleyball as she is in basketball where she averaged an impressive near 30 points per game last year as a freshman. "I played basketball most of the summer, but I'm ready to play volleyball now."
Proffitt noted two sisters; Brynley, a freshman, and Meyla, a seventh grader, may end up on the team; both tall and very athletic.
St. Johns graduated two heavy hitters at the net in Hadley Dantzler (Nova Southeastern University); 182 Kills, and Brynn White; 191 Kills with Proffitt adding 102 Kills as a freshman starter.
Walker brings a wealth of big school coaching as well as her college and club experience to a program that has always been competitive at the lower classes with Walker looking to build the program to be competitive at all levels.
"I'm going to coach the team as I have always coached; looking for solid technique, good strategy and teamwork and we will see what comes out of it," said Walker, who started the Orange Park High volleyball program in 2003, then Fleming Island for eight years and recently, at Florida State College-Jacksonville. "Here, the kids can try out in sixth grade and if they have the right attitude and talent, we can build up their style over a longer time. We even have an elementary school team."
Walker has been into the program since March and has observed the school-wide pride in all the athletics.
"I want them to put the best product on the court no matter the Class 5A or Class 6A team on the other side," said Walker. "The other team, to me, is a faceless high school opponent and I think my experience brings the experience to win those games."
At Fleming Island, with coach Amy Yoder, also an alum, returning to duke it out with the likes of Middleburg, Ponte Vedra and Beachside in one of the toughest districts in north Florida. Yoder's team in 2024 rumbled through a nine game win streak into the district final that was a loss to Middleburg, then a region loss to Beachside.

"I lost eight seniors from last years team and we have a handful of solid returners; Lillie Eason, Ava Zayakosky and Lauren Brosky, and we will find the rest of our lineup," said Yoder. "Lillie set records as a freshman last year, Lauren has been with me three years and Ava just had a great summer and should be my center hitter. Hazel Clark and Kaylee Clark are two very good young hitters."
Yoder graduates a slew of talent; Bailey Montgomery (St.Johns River State College), Macy Opp, Savannah Jackson (U of North Carolina Pembroke), Emily Topp (U of West Florida), Kaylee Kirkland (St. Johns River State College) and Edel Kibbe and will be looking for new faces on the hardwood.
Sophomore Lillie Eason was a beast as a freshman with 209 Kills, but the rest of the net firepower is in the aforementioned list.


At Middleburg, coach Meredith Forkum got bumped from her second title chase by Beachside and will return with another Rahn, Camden, on the team, but another Forkum possible. Senior Camden Rahn comes in as a highly rated striker; 313 Kills last year, with a college commit to West Virginia University to follow big sister Connor at University of Tampa.
"It's going to be a fun year, we have a lot of seniors, a lot of girls near six foot tall," said Forkum. "Right now, our libero position is up for grabs with Morgan Padgett graduated."
Daughter Brooke Forkum, the lead scorer last year, heads to Troy with Olivia Callipo heading to University of South Carolina-Upstate already.
Forkum's 22-5 Lady Broncos featured a good mix of underclass players led by Maysie Bader, 53 Kills up top/39 blocks, also a soccer athlete, and Kate Lowery, a senior, with her 141 Kills/32 Blocks next to Forkum's impressive 368 Kills.
Libero Morgan Padgett controlled the back line and will be a spot to refill; look for Rahn or junior Allie Anscheutz.



At Ridgeview, another alum, superstar Jauhna Smith has stepped down to take a job in South Carolina, I think, and another alum, Sarah Anderson, will take over with yet another alum, Brooke Dickey, on the bench as Anderson's junior varsity coach. Anderson has been a softball assistant coach also as well as on the bench next to Smith.
"I was looking for the opportunity to move up when Jauhna left and it just happened," said Anderson. "It's super awesome to have been a part of the program then come back to lead the team. We have a good handful of seniors; 10 or 11, that will lead the team."
Anderson loses stats with Katie Cole (St. Johns River State College), Brooke Cameron and Maddie Roach (Chattanooga State Community College) graduated.
Oakleaf Jamie Reed is reporting her tryout start date as August 1 with just two graduated seniors; Micah Wisdom and Joya Welch.

Clay coach Kelsey Shannon also has a large returning class with three senior graduates; Gia Thornton, Brooke Douglas and Katie Douglas. Thornton, heading to Columbia College in South Carolina, scored off 135 Kills to lead the Lady Blue Devils.
At Keystone Heights, three Lady Indians competed with the fifth place nationals Black Creek 17-Unders volleyball team; Mia Rivera (170 Kills), Mya Jennings (80 Kills) and Kayleigh Marquart so the team record could be better than eight wins.
Orange Park loses a 357 Kill finish from senior Ryanne Robinson and 178 from senior Ansley Nicholas.