Broncbusters building towards the future
By Mike Pilosof
Garden City, KS-It's been an unusual offseason for the Garden City volleyball team.
Following a 12-22 season, Jacque Matula resigned as head coach in February after three years on the job. A couple of months later, the KJCCC placed the Broncbusters on probation, eliminating them from postseason play in 2018 and stripping the program of a pair of scholarships over the next two years.
"It's hard to swallow everything that's happened," said first-year Head Coach Casie Lowden, who was hired less than a month after Matula's exit. "But our goals remain the same, no matter if there is a postseason or not."
Lowden takes the reins of a squad that brings back four sophomores, though only three of those: Kaylee Line, Brynna McVey and Ashley Brown, saw time during the 2017 campaign.
"This is a special group of girls," Lowden said. "They've come together and clicked faster than any other team that I've been a part of."
While the returners may steal the headlines, Lowden talked glowingly about some of the newcomers, including Garden City-native Adisyn Swan.
"Adisyn was a big impact player for the high school last year," Lowden said. "We expect her to be a big presence on the court this season."
Swan helped the Buffaloes to a 27-11 record in 2017, including an appearance in the 6A state tournament, where Garden City dropped all three of their matches to Blue Valley West, Topeka Washburn Rural and Lawrence.
Joining Swan in the freshman class is Katie McHugh, a setter from Lafayette, LA, who played four years of varsity ball at Comeaux High School. She was a first-team, all-district selection both her junior and senior seasons and has played club ball since she eight years old.
"A lot of these freshman are going to help us right away," Lowden said.
The first-year coach also added Jessica Forbes, an outside hitter from Elkhart, KS, who played both basketball and volleyball for the Wildcats. Middle blocker Tameia Davis comes to Garden after being named to the all-district team as a senior. She led Palestine High School with 59 blocks while adding 174 kills, with a .289 hitting percentage.
"I think we have a really good mix, and I'm very excited about this team," Lowden said.
Sheridan Rodriguez, who strutted her stuff by qualifying for the state track meet in four different events while finishing third in the high jump and fifth in the 100 meters for Deerfield High School, figures to be a key component to Garden City's youth movement as does defensive specialist Alexandra Jackson from Enid, OK.
"Time management will be the biggest adjustment for these girls," Lowden explained. "If you're not getting enough sleep, if you're not eating correctly, you're going to feel it on the court.
Helping Lowden out this season will be assistant Karen Adams, who also teaches math at the college.
"Coach Adams has a lot of experience in volleyball," Lowden said. "She's been a solo head coach at the Division-II level, and she's coached club for plenty of years. She brings in a different voice so the girls won't get sick of mine as well as a different coaching background."
Garden City will still feel the sting of losing three all-conference players from last year's team, including Libero Bailey Martinez, who was one of the Jayhawk leaders in digs. She gave up volleyball and is pursuing her nursing degree at Texas Tech.
"Because of the on-court and off-court chemistry we've built, I don't think it will be a problem for this team to come together," Lowden said.
Garden City will face another rugged schedule, opening up the regular season at home on Wednesday, Aug. 22 vs. Otero. Then they head to the New Mexico Military Classic before a road showdown with Butler on Aug. 29. Their first true test comes at the Green House on Saturday, Sept. 1 against reigning Jayhawk West champion Seward County, who will be playing their first season under new coach Tony Trifonov. Incredibly, the Broncbusters do not have another home match until Thursday, Sept. 13 when they welcome in Trinidad State.