KVA volleyball begins complete rebuild
By Brandon White bwhite@henderson
dispatch.com; 252-436-2840
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy’s volleyball team will look almost unrecognizable compared to the roster that nearly won a third consecutive NCISAA 1A championship in 2020.
Six seniors departed the program over the summer, along with head coach Casey Ellington, with assistant coach Debbie Medlin is set to take over as KVA begins preparing for the 2021 season.
With so many changes enveloping KVA volleyball during the offseason, Medlin expects 2021 to be a rebuilding year for the varsity team.
But she is eager to see how the current group of players develop throughout the year.
“We’re going to have a young team,” Medlin said. “We’ll only have one senior and a couple of juniors. I don’t think we’ll be fielding a middle school team this year but I’m hoping that JV and varsity will both be strong.”
Medlin is no stranger to finding success as a volleyball coach, as she previously led Jordan High School’s varsity program in Durham from 1987 until 2000 before joining Ellington’s staff this past year.
Under Ellington and Medlin’s guidance, KVA maintained the level of efficiency that won them state titles in 2018 and 2019, and finished with a 13-2 record. The Spartans came up short in the NCISAA 1A championship against Lee Christian, losing 3-0.
Medlin was disappointed that KVA was unable to keep its streak of championships going in last year’s title game, as she anticipated that a championship run in 2021 would be much more difficult given the amount of turnover coming to the roster.
While Medlin is not ready to say that KVA will obtain 10 or more wins this season, she is confident that her younger players will be ready to step up and lead KVA back to more title games as soon as they get more experience.
“Only two varsity players are returning from last year,” Medlin said. “There are going to be some challenges this year but we have a lot of talent in our ninth and 10th graders, so I’m really looking forward to having them for a couple of years so we can build this program back up.”
Medlin believes that 2021 will be a big year for freshman Macey Southall, who played on KVA’s varsity team last year as an eighth grader. She also expects Courtney Tuck to take on a more active role within the program as the only senior.
KVA athletic director Sam Feaver believes Medlin is the perfect candidate to maximize the potential of the underclassmen on the varsity team, and is optimistic that KVA will still be a favorite for the NCISAA Coastal Conference despite the team’s youth.
“Coach Medlin has a lot of experience coaching in public schools, so I’m very excited to see what she can do,” Feaver said. “This is a young team, but I’m still expecting us to be very successful in regards to our conference, and I think our underclassmen are more than capable of being great through some of these growing pains.”
Medlin herself is tempering expectations during KVA’s first few weeks together because of her team’s overall inexperience.
Despite this, Medlin intends to have everyone work hard on the fundamentals before their season-opener so they can re-establish the foundation that made KVA perennial championship contenders.
“Right now, I want to see how far we can grow,” Medlin said. “I don’t expect us to necessarily be in contention for a state championship since some of these kids have only played a couple of years. My goal is to start building the team now so we can go back to being great as early as next year.”
KVA is set to begin their first season under Medlin when they travel to Wilson for a road matchup against Community Christian on Aug. 17.
By Brandon White bwhite@henderson
dispatch.com; 252-436-2840
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy’s volleyball team will look almost unrecognizable compared to the roster that nearly won a third consecutive NCISAA 1A championship in 2020.
Six seniors departed the program over the summer, along with head coach Casey Ellington, with assistant coach Debbie Medlin is set to take over as KVA begins preparing for the 2021 season.
With so many changes enveloping KVA volleyball during the offseason, Medlin expects 2021 to be a rebuilding year for the varsity team.
But she is eager to see how the current group of players develop throughout the year.
“We’re going to have a young team,” Medlin said. “We’ll only have one senior and a couple of juniors. I don’t think we’ll be fielding a middle school team this year but I’m hoping that JV and varsity will both be strong.”
Medlin is no stranger to finding success as a volleyball coach, as she previously led Jordan High School’s varsity program in Durham from 1987 until 2000 before joining Ellington’s staff this past year.
Under Ellington and Medlin’s guidance, KVA maintained the level of efficiency that won them state titles in 2018 and 2019, and finished with a 13-2 record. The Spartans came up short in the NCISAA 1A championship against Lee Christian, losing 3-0.
Medlin was disappointed that KVA was unable to keep its streak of championships going in last year’s title game, as she anticipated that a championship run in 2021 would be much more difficult given the amount of turnover coming to the roster.
While Medlin is not ready to say that KVA will obtain 10 or more wins this season, she is confident that her younger players will be ready to step up and lead KVA back to more title games as soon as they get more experience.
“Only two varsity players are returning from last year,” Medlin said. “There are going to be some challenges this year but we have a lot of talent in our ninth and 10th graders, so I’m really looking forward to having them for a couple of years so we can build this program back up.”
Medlin believes that 2021 will be a big year for freshman Macey Southall, who played on KVA’s varsity team last year as an eighth grader. She also expects Courtney Tuck to take on a more active role within the program as the only senior.
KVA athletic director Sam Feaver believes Medlin is the perfect candidate to maximize the potential of the underclassmen on the varsity team, and is optimistic that KVA will still be a favorite for the NCISAA Coastal Conference despite the team’s youth.
“Coach Medlin has a lot of experience coaching in public schools, so I’m very excited to see what she can do,” Feaver said. “This is a young team, but I’m still expecting us to be very successful in regards to our conference, and I think our underclassmen are more than capable of being great through some of these growing pains.”
Medlin herself is tempering expectations during KVA’s first few weeks together because of her team’s overall inexperience.
Despite this, Medlin intends to have everyone work hard on the fundamentals before their season-opener so they can re-establish the foundation that made KVA perennial championship contenders.
“Right now, I want to see how far we can grow,” Medlin said. “I don’t expect us to necessarily be in contention for a state championship since some of these kids have only played a couple of years. My goal is to start building the team now so we can go back to being great as early as next year.”
KVA is set to begin their first season under Medlin when they travel to Wilson for a road matchup against Community Christian on Aug. 17.
