New roles, new scheme and the climb continues at Williamsburg

The “revolving door” has stopped spinning, and the fortunes of the Williamsburg High School volleyball program have turned.

“It’s been kind of a three-year thing,” said Raiders Coach Brittni Powell, who — not coincidentally — is in her third season as the head coach after one as an assistant.

“We’ve had talent here. Now it’s starting to come together.”

It helps when there is stability at the top. A 2017 Williamsburg graduate, Powell said, “There’s been a revolving door of coaches here. Even when I was going through (as a player), that’s how it was.”

Powell’s first season as head coach netted a 6-26 record, then the Raiders climbed to 18-11 last year.

This edition stands at 10-1 after opening Wamac Conference West Division action with a sweep of Benton Community on Tuesday.

“We have a lot of people back, but some of them are in new roles,” Powell said.

And the Raiders are settling in a new scheme, a 5-1 offense.

“I’ve never run a 5-1 before, but we decided to go with (senior setter) Averi (Nielsen) all the way around,” Powell said.

Nielsen’s top targets are a pair of sisters, junior outside hitter Clarissa Suhr (2.91 kills per set, .231 kill efficiency) and sophomore middle Kylie Suhr (2.78 and .370).

“Kylie is tall and lanky, a big blocker,” Powell said. “Clarissa, she’s our go-to when we’re in a pinch. She’s good at hitting when we’re out of system.”

Williamsburg’s lone loss was a five-setter against still-unbeaten Wilton on Aug. 28. The Raiders have rattled off six straight wins since, all via sweep.

“We’ve probably played mid-pack competition so far,” Powell said. “But we’re not wavering. We’re not playing down to our competition like we have in the past.”

The Raiders host an eight-team tournament Saturday.

A statement for Solon

As his team readied for Tuesday’s showdown with archrival Mount Vernon, Solon Coach Ruben Galvan’s message was this:

“I just said, ‘Don’t make it bigger than it is,’” Galvan said. “Sure, we’ve been looking forward to this moment.

“Mount Vernon is Mount Vernon. They’ve got great tradition and history. I was worried about being in front of such a big crowd, even though it was at home. I didn’t know how we were going to react.”

Quite well.

Solon swept the match (25-14, 25-22, 25-21), earning its first victory over Mount Vernon in a 10-match span that went back to 2018.

The win sent the Spartans to 9-1 overall, 1-0 in the Wamac East.

Galvan has preached culture since his arrival last year; he came to Solon from West Liberty.

“It’s definitely better,” he said. “By my standards, I would say we’re halfway there. They’ve made some great gains in leadership.”

Perhaps the No. 1 motivation for Galvan’s move to Solon was the presence of granddaughter Makinley Galvan, now a freshman who is fifth on the team in kills.

“I coach her like I coach everybody else,” said Ruben, who is 5 inches shorter than his 6-foot granddaughter. “She’s going to get the same love, or whatever you want to call it, from me as everybody else.”

Still unblemished

The list of unbeatens throughout the state now stands at 14, including two from The Gazette’s coverage area.

Mid-Prairie is 10-0, including titles at the Mount Vernon Quad (Aug. 28) and the Central Lee Invitational (Aug. 30). The Golden Hawks will be part of Iowa City West’s 12-team Caroline Found Invitational on Saturday.

BGM improved to 4-0 with a four-set South Iowa Cedar League win over Colfax-Mingo on Tuesday.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com