Saints look to take it to another level this season -- Observer Preps

Last year didn’t end the way that Head Coach Jeff Wilson, or his team, wanted.

After going 22-4 (4-1 in district), the Saints found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 loss to Lake Highland Prep in the district tourney semifinal, ending their season.

The loss stung a bit extra when you consider the Saints were forced to miss postseason play despite winning more than 20 games.

Since then, the difficult loss has played the role of kicking this year’s Saints team, which sits at 12-4 (1-1), into high gear.

“Most of those kids coming back this year were highly motivated,” Wilson said. “We felt like we ended our season prematurely last year, and not that we deserved to win anything in the postseason, but we certainly felt like we had the opportunity to.”

This year, the competition for the district — and the chance to make the postseason, will be more difficult than the last with the addition of perennial power in The First Academy — which beat Benjamin 3-0 last year to win the 4A state championship. 

“Every year is different, every team is different, but this team has 

really embraced the 

challenge of TFA coming into the district.”

 

 

— Head Coach Jeff Wilson

With an even tougher schedule, Wilson compared the district to the “group of death,” an expression that refers to a specific group in the World Cup loaded with quality teams.

The addition also comes at a time when many players on the Saints’ squad told Wilson to schedule tougher teams throughout the season during their exit interviews.

“Every year is different, every team is different, but this team has really embraced the challenge of TFA coming into the district,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t that we had a light schedule last year by any means, but they wanted to ramp up the competition even more this year, and TFA was mentioned in the exit interviews. 

“When they were added to the district I was a little bit surprised, but on the positive end I was able to accommodate their request,” he said.

Despite the addition of TFA, there is no reason to expect the Saints to see any drop off, especially because only two players were lost to graduation — captains Lauren Cameron and Kat Garvey.

The loss of their leadership hurts, but returning their core of strong players has helped propel the Saints forward. This season, seniors Cori Gray, Teagan Sullivan and Elizabeth Fenichel captain the Saints.

Gray plays in the middle and has provided real strength on both offense and defense. She has picked up 66 kills, 23 total blocks, and 33 digs — which is second best, first best, and sixth best on the team, respectively.

“She’s going to play at the next level,” Wilson said. “She’s been very steady and solid for us — this is her fourth year on varsity.”

Helping out the seniors this year are players such as sophomore Isabella Brady, who plays at the libero position.

Despite being an underclassman, Brady has stepped up this season with 10 assists, a team high 122 digs, 25 assists and 98 receptions.

“From what I’ve seen, she is one of the top-five liberos I’ve seen all year,” Wilson said. “When I say fearless, she will throw herself in front of anybody, and she anchors our defense.”

Along with the core of players, which also includes players such as freshman outside hitter Jordan Hardy and junior middle Cameron Talbert, there also has been a key addition for the Saints this season.

Transferring from Hagerty is junior outside hitter Samarah Hill, who has taken over from the outside for the Saints and leads the team in multiple categories — including kills (87), serving aces (24) and receptions (104). She also has picked up 56 digs.

With such a strong group of players, and despite the lack in size up and down the lineup, Wilson said the goal is not so much a focus on record but to develop the team as a unit.

“I’m not looking necessarily at a particular win-lose goal — I’m looking at us trying to improve on every single match regardless of who the opponent is,” Wilson said. “The first goal is to get better and closer as a team every day, and the second goal is to play together as long as possible.”