Season Preview: Volleyball Aiming For Bounce Back Season
David Creed •
The Whaler volleyball program is entering their third season under head coach Makaila Lyons and after an up and down 5-13 season last fall, Lyons is excited to see this year’s group in action after a strong showing against Andover High School in a scrimmage on August 28th.
"I think our defense was pretty strong," Lyons said of her team's performance against Andover. "Granted, some of their hitters are quite good. Our serving looked pretty good, and I just think overall the cohesion of the team looked good. Usually, the first game or first scrimmage can sometimes be a nightmare. You know what I mean? First game jitters or whatever you want to call it. So I'm just grateful that we had the opportunity to play them, but also the opportunity to sort of get our first game out out of the way."
Nantucket had just one senior on last year’s team (captain Marianna Silva) and while she will be missed, it also means the Whalers will be fielding one of their most experienced teams in years. Senior captain Viktoria Bozhkova returns as well as senior captain Julie Pires. Lyons has also been impressed with senior Bessie Aguilar.
"Bessie is obviously a returning player and she's a senior this year, which is crazy because I had her as a sophomore, you know and she's been primarily a back row player for me, like a defensive specialist," Lyons said. "She's also had a killer serve, always has, and continues to, but this year we're trying to put her as an outside hitter. We're working on it and it seems like she really wants it. She's willing to put in the work to figure out how to do that.”
Lyons said she feels better entering her third season as head coach compared to her first given her familiarity with the roster.
"My first year I didn't know what to expect," Lyons said. "It was my first year being a head varsity coach. I had experience before in other levels, but it was my first year as a head varsity coach. So I didn't know what to expect. I learned a lot, and I'm grateful for those lessons and what they taught me about the girls, but also what they taught me about myself and what I'm able to endure and persevere through. Last year, it was starting to feel more like I had an idea of what was going on, what I was doing. I felt like I was building rotations that I could see and visualize myself as opposed to a rotation that was kind of already there and we just kind of plugged and chugged. I was starting to build who goes where as well as continuing to develop the culture that I think is really important.”
Nantucket will open their season on Wednesday, September 9th on the road against the Nauset Warriors at 3:30 p.m. You can view their full schedule here.