2015 Northmont Girls Volleyball Team, left to right: Andrew Wirrig (manager), Kara Brown, Madi Glass, Taylor Manson, Ali Pompeii, Assistant Coach Christy Phillips, Head Coach Jim Smith, Assistant Coach Briana Butler, Krystal Carpenter, Aja Howard, Isabel Stoffel, Cecelia Stebel, Ryanne Stoffel, Matt Bridenbaugh (manager).
Photo courtesy Easterling Studios
2015 Northmont Volleyball Roster
No. 4 Cecelia Stebel - sophomore
No. 5 Madi Glass -junior
No. 7 Aja Howard - senior
No. 10 Isabel Stoffel - sophomore
No. 12 Taylor Manson - senior
No. 13 Kara Brown - junior
No. 14 Allie Pompeii - senior
No. 15 Ryanne Stoffel - junior
No. 16 Krystal Carpenter - senior
CLAYTON — First year Head Coach Jim Smith is facing a rebuilding year for the Northmont Girls Volleyball Team.
The team has three main returning varsity players and two players that moved up to varsity late last season on which the team will rely upon for success
Ryanne Stoffel, Allie Pompeii and Krystal Carpenter are the three returning experienced players with Isabel Stoffel and Cecelia Stebel.
Last year Northmont went 14-10 overall and 2-3 in division play.
“Northmont had a pretty good year last year with a really good senior class with a few players that went to play at the college level,” Smith noted. “So this year we have little experience. No player on team is playing the same role as they had last year. They are either new to varsity or they are new to their position, so no one is doing the same thing they did last year.”
With the entire lineup learning something new Smith said the early season will be all about the players learning how to settle into their new roles.
“We are hoping that by the end of the year we will be where we need to be,” Smith said. “When you come in as a new coach you have your system that the players have to learn and adapt to, so that takes a little while. I usually do things a little bit quicker after coming over from the boys program, so sometimes it takes the girls a little while to adapt to that.”
Since he is new to coaching girls volleyball in the Greater Western Ohio Conference it is too early to tell how the team will do in 2015.
“In scrimmages we have improved a lot,” Smith said. “We want to be a scrappy, defensive ball control team. We are not very big, so that is how we are trying to compete with some of the bigger teams in our conference. I think we have a lot of defensive players playing the front row. We have a lot of people assuming new roles from what they are used to, so it will be interesting. I think the players are excited about the season and about the improvement that they have shown, but we know we still have a long way to go.”
