By John Raffel
The Midland H.H Dow High Chargers varsity volleyball expects to have a strong season under coach Ali Taylor.
The Chargers compete in the Saginaw Valley League.
Midland was 13-7 last year.
“It was a tough year for us because of COVID,” Taylor said. “We only got one day to practice inside prior to our season starting. Once we had a few games under our belt and practices inside we started to come together and play very well. I believe if we had a regular summer, we would have had a better record.”
Some key players graduated from the program.
Cheka Queary “was an outside hitter and someone that played all around,” Taylor said. “She dominated in all aspects of the game and we will miss her being our go-to person. Gabby Wilson, was another outside hitter and played all around at times. She was another key factor to our team’s success.”
Alli Miller is a senior libero.
“Alli is one of the hardest workers you will ever meet,” Taylor said. “She will out hustle anyone on the court to get to a ball. Alli has been a great leader and floor general on our court. I have very high expectations for Alli as a libero this season.”
Summer Luick is a senior middle hitter.
“Summer will also out hustle anyone at the net,” Taylor said. “She will be a lot of middles’ worst nightmares. She has the ability to predict where the ball will go before the other team does. She always gets her hands up and touches almost every ball that comes near her. I have very high expectations of Summer this season.”
She also has high expectations for the team.
“My expectations for this season is to come out and shock a lot of teams,” Taylor said. “We have unbelievable chemistry and have put many hours in the gym this summer. Now, we are working to decrease silly errors and have both our offense and defense perform well for each game. My girls have great chemistry with one another and we plan to use this to our advantage this season.
“Some things that this team needs to work on are: silly errors and not let momentum changes impact how they play on the court. Our conference is a very strong and competitive league. I believe that the league favorites would be Davison, Grand Blanc, and Mount Pleasant. If we show up every day and play our best I believe that we will also be towards the top of the league.”
It’s fun been for Taylor and her team to have a normal summer.
“It has been wonderful to have less COVID restrictions,” she said. “Like I said, last year we had one practice and then we started to play. It has been great to actually have a preseason. It has done wonders for our team.”