KELSEYVILLE >> There are plenty of familiar faces and names on the Kelseyville High School varsity volleyball roster in 2015, but it’s not the same team as last season.
So says head coach Donelle McCallister as the Knights embark on a new campaign.
“We’re a young team and we’re going to experience some growing pains,” McCallister said.
Graduation cost Kelseyville four players, including All-League first-team setter Mary McCallister (daughter of the coach) and All-League honorable mention Abby McQueen. Returning players are junior setter Riley Goff, an All-League second-team selection in 2014; junior outside hitter Lauren Rudnick; junior outside hitter Carli Mendonca; and senior middle blocker Heidy Cano.
Of the six newcomers on the varsity, one is a freshman and her last name is synonymous with Kelseyville High School athletics. Payton Conrad, a defensive specialist, will open her high school career on the volleyball court and McCallister said she is up to the task of being a varsity player right out of the chute.
“I just think that she comes from a family that understands sports and she reads the ball so well,” McCallister said.
Payton’s dad, Scott Conrad, is the Kelseyville varsity boys’ basketball coach and the school’s athletic director. Her mom, Jennifer, is a former Kelseyville High standout athlete.
Rounding out the squad are five girls up from the junior varsity squad — junior defensive specialist Kaylie Williams, sophomore defensive specialist Tayor Paulich, sophomore middle blocker/opposite hitter Shalyn Keithly, sophomore defensive specialist/setter Tymeka Green, and sophomore opposite hitter Kendyll Nunn.
Not all the player positions are set yet, according to McCallister, who said the Knights are very much a work in progress as the 2015 campaign gets underway.
“I don’t know how it’s going to shake out yet,” McCallister said. “We don’t have the height that we’ve had so we are looking at all of our options and seeing how the team fits together.”
McCallister said Goff and Mendonca will serve as team captains because they’ve “earned it” based on their hard work in club ball and summer workouts.
“The rest of team respects them and that’s important,” McCallister said.
Kelseyville has been a player in each of the last two league races, winning the North Central League I title in 2013 with a 13-1 record and going 12-2 and finishing second last season behind undefeated St. Helena. In fact, the Knights’ only three losses in league play the last two seasons have come at the hands of the Saints, who McCallister says are the favorites again in 2015.
“They have five starters back (including last year’s league MVP, Tate Battistini),” McCallister said. “They have the height and the experience.”
