“Each year, we’ve gone one step further,” said head volleyball coach Analisa Wendt. “I think we can win region and make it at least one step further than last year at the state tournament.”
Wendt, now entering her fifth year coaching at Mill Creek, oversees the ninth grade, junior varsity and varsity teams. While varsity garners the most attention, Wendt remains focused on the overall picture.
“I’m looking at building the entire program,” she said.
Without a strong middle school volleyball program to draw from, Wendt and her fellow coaches must take incoming freshmen and mold them into varsity level players. The results have begun to show in the junior varsity team, which won the county championship last year, and in the success of the young varsity team. Ultimately, Wendt hopes the program will produce a state championship - perhaps as soon as next season.
Mill Creek returns five starters from last year’s team: Moneshia Simmons, Alyson White, Lauren Rhodes, Ashley Jackson and Lindsay Davis.
Overall, the team has seven juniors, one sophomore and just two seniors – a statistic that bodes well for 2009.
“They’re still fairly young,” Wendt said. “They already have a lot of experience with each other and next year should be like clockwork.”
WINNING ATTITUDE
Tyler Thigpen begins his first year as the varsity head coach. Though he did not have the opportunity to watch last year’s team, he likes what he sees so far this season.
“The girls have fantastic attitudes and they have a really great competitive spirit,” he said. “I think they’re going to have fun and I think they’re going to compete.”
Even with practices going well so far, Thigpen believes that the team will show significant improvement as the season progresses.
“They communicate well already. A lot of them already have an athletic winner’s mentality and I think they’ll be developing a winning mentality in volleyball as the season goes on,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on. I think they’ll be really proud of what they do.”
While eager to see the girls do well, Thigpen said the advantage of being a first year coach is that he does not feel pressure to win region or place high at state.
“We would love to win, but I think, more importantly, we’ll try and take lessons away from every game,” he said.
UP NEXT
Mill Creek hosts Brookwood, South Gwinnett and Central Gwinnett on Thursday. The matches begin at 4:55 p.m. in Hoschton. On Friday, the Lady Hawks travel to West Forsyth to begin a two-day tournament. For updated scores throughout the week, visit www.MainStreetNewsSports.com.
