NEW HOPE – Though she took the sidelines as New Hope’s first volleyball coach years ago, head coach Laura Lee Holman is glad to have some continuity going into the second year of her second stint with the program, which started practice this week.  

Last year was Holman’s first season back at New Hope as its volleyball coach after spending nine years pacing the sidelines for basketball, and she helped lead her Trojans to a 20-19 record that concluded with a 3-0 second-round playoff loss to eventual state 5A champion Lafayette. 

“I thought we had a great season. I think we kind of fell a little bit short of where we probably should have been. … For whatever reason, it just wasn’t our night. Lafayette seemed to have our number last year,” Holman said. “We never really seemed to give them our best version of ourselves.”

The season concluded the high school careers of middle hitter Andi Wright and setter Aubrie Kate Forrester – two players who held down key roles who have taken their talents to the college level. Holman has used practices this week to get scope on who might be their replacements.

“I told them (Thursday), they’re making it hard for me as far as who these starting positions are going to go and what kind of rotations we are going to be in and those types of things. So, still a lot of decisions to be made, but our practices have (gone) really well,” Holman said. “They are coming in with lots of energy and enthusiasm, which was one of our goals for this year. Just really couldn’t be more excited about what they’ve brought every day. Now, they went back to school today, so it’s going to be interesting to see what today looks like, because I know they are going to be a little tired.” 

The Trojans are bringing back a junior and sophomore heavy group, which got plenty of playing time on the court last season, along with seniors Lexi McBrayer and Roni Kate West. It’s a young squad that Holman said has been building chemistry all year. 

“We were young last year, and the success that we had last year, we fell short of our goal, but considering the experience that we had on the floor I thought we were OK,” Holman said. “That experience that we got last year, it’s starting to show already this first week of practice and in a couple of games we played this summer, so that’s exciting for sure.” 

Among those players Holman is thrilled to have returning are McBrayer, who “played a huge role last year;” sophomore setter Sarah Ruffin, who Holman said is playing with skill above her grade level; and sophomore Lauren Barrett, who has shown tremendous growth. 

“I think those three are really going to be some key players for us,” she said.

Despite their experience, Holman said they still have much to learn, especially in crunch time situations. There were many times when she thought her team fell just short in tight moments at the end of matches, so part of practices have been highlighting how to stay in the moment and finish off the set. 

“A lot of times, we put ourselves in opportunities last year to do some really big things but as the game got tighter, we got tighter,” Holman said. “So, I’m hoping that now they know kind of what they’re working towards and just trying to prepare them for big moments. Whether they’re down by three or its game point; sometimes we didn’t play our best volleyball in those moments. So, that’s been kind of my point of focus. Just trying to make practice more competitive and put them in more situations like that in practice where maybe they’re down or you have to make that big play.”

Those big moments may come on the season debut on Aug. 1 when the Trojans play in the MHSAA Showcase in Jackson.  

“They’ve been working really hard. They’ve set some pretty high goals for this season, and I’m just excited about getting started next week,” Holman said.