Head Coach Korrine Bowers and the Westside Warriors varsity volleyball team look to start their season off strong. Westside ended up falling short at district last year, finishing with a record of 19-17. On Thursday, Aug. 27, they open up their 2020 season with a home match against Millard North, a team that finished at 25-11 last season. This season, Bowers and the program are trying to rebuild with seven underclassmen on the roster. 

“We’re building a program, not saying that we have bad senior leadership because we don’t at all; but as a coach, it feels good to have the majority of the kids on the court be underclassmen. That means you’re building a program stronger for years to come,” Bowers said.

Before coming to Westside, Bowers previously coached at Gross Catholic and Skutt Catholic high schools, two completely different programs from Westside. Going from championship runs to rebuilding a program is a task that Bowers is ready to complete.

“Fortunately, in my coaching career, I’ve had the opportunities to walk into programs where they have already gone through the rebuild and completed it. Trying to get that championship status. Sometimes you just got to pay the time, put the time in to be able to hold up that championship trophy,” Bowers said.

Bowers said she has always wanted to walk into a program and build it and was very thankful to Westside Athletic Director Tom Kerkman who offered her the spot. 

“As I get older and become a more patient person, I’m doing it for the kids, giving back to them what I know. It’s important that I can come in and build a program like Westside,” Bowers said.

As a returning contributor and upperclassmen, junior Madilyn Siebler will have a bigger leadership role this season to help the younger, less experienced players. 

“After playing for two years already, Korrine has been expecting me to start stepping into that leadership role. It’s been challenging because you have to be tough on people sometimes, but I love that I can make that impact on some of the younger girls and try to be a role model for them,” Siebler said. 

Many schools have felt the effect of the recent coronavirus pandemic, but Siebler feels that her experience has been a bit different.

“I think we’ve gotten really lucky in the fact we’ve gotten to practice like normal, and our season right now is still on as scheduled. The only difference is wearing a mask at practice,” Siebler said. 

After losing a handful of impactful seniors this past season, the Warriors are mainly led by underclassmen. The classes of ‘23 and ‘24 have a combined seven varsity volleyball players, meaning their role this season increases when trying to fill in for the seniors they lost. Siebler, who does see some obstacles with a younger, said she feels that the team can get past them.

“With OPS canceling sports, the season will be a lot tougher since we usually get some wins from them. Our team is young so I expect it might take a little bit to get in a groove and learn how to play with each other,” Siebler said. “We have a lot of good athletes and the underclassmen are willing to step into bigger roles. I’m super excited about all the young talent we have.”

Returning starter and sophomore, Samantha Laird said she thinks the pressure on her is the same as her freshman year. 

“I still play the same role as last year and, since I’m older now, I can’t make as many mistakes,” Laird said. “I think that our season will be like last year, considering we were also led by underclassmen last year. But I’m expecting that we will be successful this season.” 

Laird said she thinks the coronavirus will have minimal effect on their season and preparation to their opponents. 

“We could’ve prepared with open gyms and weight training in the spring but, because everything was closed down, we were unable to. But we were able to hold our camp and attend a team camp in Iowa this summer,” Laird said. 

Westside had a small roster last year only having ten girls on the team. This year, they have a full roster of 14, seven of them being underclassmen. 

“There are a lot more opportunities this year and that makes the girls give their 100% all the time. And so naturally you get better. By having this competitive environment we’re going to be able to make fast strides. I’m hoping we head into Thursday’s match with that competitiveness,” Bowers said.

Westside has been practicing hard, watching film on Millard North and studying their gameplans. Looking to this Thursday’s matchup, the Warriors have a gameplan they feel can help them to start off the season with a win.

“They don’t know it yet, but we’ve been working on things this week that I feel will defeat Millard North. With our middles, our slide attack, running certain free ball plays, we’ve been working on passing and passing off hard served balls and ball placements. Kristi Filipi is our assistant coach and she calls the serves, so her and I will talk about what numbers to hit at or hit around,” Bowers said. 

Westside looks to shut down Millard North on Thursday, Aug. 27, and get their first win of the season. The match is slated to start at 7 p.m. with only four people from each player’s family permitted to watch the game in person. These restrictions will be in place for all fall sports until further notice.