young lady eagles high on potential

Youth will be prevalent this fall on the 2008 Seymour Lady Eagles volleyball squad.

Under head coach Ed Irvin the Lady Eagles volleyball program has achieved unprecedented success, particularly over the last two seasons. Since the 2004 campaign, Irvin, a former head coach at South-Doyle High School who is going into his fifth season at SHS, has directed Seymour to back-to-back regular season and district tournament championships. The Lady Eagles are currently riding a two-year, 34-game district winning streak that included matches played during both the regular season and tournaments.

Seymour will have to overcome the graduation losses of three senior standouts from last year’s squad. Megan England, Louanna Smith and Hailey Lindsey will leave big shoes to fill in the SHS lineup. England became the first former SHS volleyball player to take her game to the next level when she signed to play volleyball at Tusculum College following the 2007 season.

With a total of 15 sophomores and freshman on the 2008 roster, Irvin admits the Lady Eagles will have their work cut out maintaining their past level of success and continuing their conference winning streak.

“This will be by far the youngest team I’ve ever coached,” said Irvin. “We’ve got a very promising group athletically. Our freshman and sophomores have a lot of potential but the thing about potential is you just never know what you’re going to get.”

Irvin can take some comfort in knowing that he’s got a solid core to build around this season. The Lady Eagles return three seniors and a junior from last year’s region tournament squad that finished with a final record of 33-18. Morgan Peterson, a former All-State player who will be a senior in ’08, gives the Lady Eagles a game-changing type of presence that the opposition will have to be aware of at all times.

Irvin says Peterson will have to be an impact player this year for the Lady Eagles.

“Know doubt, Morgan has a chance to go down as the best player to ever play volleyball at Seymour,” Irvin stated. “I’m sure she’ll end up holding all the records for volleyball at Seymour High School.”

Irvin said Peterson earned All-State honors as a setter during her 10^th grade season. He moved her to spiker last year, and although she flourished at the net throughout the season, she was inexplicably left off the All-State team in ’07.

“We definitely needed her as a spiker and a setter last year but I still haven’t figured out a way for her to set herself,” Irvin remarked. “I think some sports writers in the state missed the boat last year when they didn’t put her on the All-State team. She’s most definitely our go-to player no matter where she is on the court.”

Rachel Smith and Amanda Louallen are the other two 12^th graders that Irvin will count on this fall to lead the Lady Eagles. Haley Huelsman is the lone junior on the ’08 squad.

“It is nice having three seniors back,” Irvin said. “All three of our seniors are good role models that do a nice job of setting a good example but I still don’t know what kind of leaders they are yet. We won’t find out what kind of leaders they are until we get into the season.”

The Seymour coach was pleased with what he saw out of his squad during a team camp at South-Doyle High School this off-season. Irvin admitted the overall competition at the camp wasn’t great, but nevertheless, the Lady Eagles rose to the occasion in the end and rallied to win the camp championship over a strong, senior-laden Lady Cherokees ensemble.

“South-Doyle has a nice team with six seniors back,” Irvin added. “It was good to see our girls come through and win (the camp championship) in the end, defeating South-Doyle on the final day for the first time the whole week.”