Volleyball Begins New Era Under Makaila Lyons

There will be a new face leading the way for the Whaler volleyball team this fall after Andrew Viselli announced his retirement in late July. Makaila Lyons will be leading the way – bringing several years of coaching experience to the table. Some of those years took place while coaching as an assistant at Sturgis West, a common opponent for Nantucket.

She has seen the success of the program over the years up close on the opposite sideline, and is looking forward to challenge of continuing that success into this year and beyond.

"I think it's been really good early on here and I think that a lot of what we've worked on early is culture building and breaking some old habits, not in regard to volleyball, but in regard to attitude and the way that we treat each other as people and teammates," Lyons said. "Just working on how we support each other when something goes wrong instead of, you know, getting upset with each other or something like that. That's been just a little bit of a mindset shift.”

"I think that's been big so far, and then just seeing where we're at skill wise,” she continued. “I think even up until the beginning of this week, I was still trying to figure out one or two players and how they could fit in a couple positions.”

The talent on the court remains strong despite the loss of some key players from last year including outside hitter Chloe Marrero, setter Yahely Del Rosario Gomez, and middle Alice O’Banion. They return two-time all-state libero Vicky Todorova (captain), setter Bianca Santos, outside hitter Rihanna Cranston, and middle Leah Crowley, amongst others.

"Vicky Todorova, who is obviously our star libero, is going to play a huge part in our success," Lyons said. "Everything starts and ends with a pass. We call her a vacuum. We called her that yesterday. She picks up everything.”

"One of our senior setters, Bianca Santos, is another key player kind of directing the front row and the direction of what we're doing,” Lyons continued. “We have also been working a lot with Leah Crowley on her middle hitting. She's seems really used to running one sets, which are really good, but also working on a more aggressive attack as opposed to a quick hit over the net.”

The Whalers made it all the way to the state semifinal in the fall of 2022 and the state quarterfinal in the fall of 2023. The program has built a culture of winning. They finished 12-6 in 2021, 18-2 in 2022, and 13-8 in 2023. They will look to keep their winning ways rolling into the new year and new era when they begin their season on Wednesday, September 4 at home against St. John Paul II at 4 p.m.

You can view their full schedule by clicking here.