Strong junior class offers senior-like experience – Shaw Local

The Princeton Tigresses volleyball team will field only two seniors in the 2024 season.

However, that doesn’t mean that the Tigresses don’t have other players with similar experience.

The two seniors, Ellie Harp and Karsyn Brucker, are supported by a strong third-year class that includes Keighley Davis, Camryn Driscoll, Makayla Hecht and Caroline Keutzer, all of whom were thrown onto the varsity team as sophomores, and third-year freshman Keely Lawson, who started on the varsity team as a freshman at neighboring Bureau Valley.

“Even though we only have two seniors, we have a lot of experience with the girls below us, and we all have a lot of fun playing together, getting along well with each other and working well together,” Harp said. “Offensively, we are very strong, and our defense has gotten a lot better since the summer. Everyone is much more comfortable since we started. I feel like we have a lot of potential and a lot of great athletes on our team this year.”

Princeton coach Andy Puck, who begins his 23rd season at the helm of the Tigresses, shares Harp’s enthusiasm for this year’s team.

“I’m really excited about the season because last year we started four to five sophomores who are all back as juniors now. And then we had two juniors who are now back as seniors. So we have a lot of experience, which is great,” he said.

Puck said Harp and Brucker will be strong leaders for the team this year.

“They both contributed a lot to the team last year,” he said. “Ellie has been with me for three years now and Karsyn has been a regular for two years. They both played a lot with their club teams this winter. They lead by example. I don’t want to say it’s not leadership by any means from the top guys, because they give everyone a voice, which is really nice.”

The Tigresses brought back three-quarters of their total kills, with only Chrissy Sierens, who was third on the team last year with 115, finishing the tournament.

Puck said all of his hitters are versatile and can all move around the front row.

“It’s going to be a little different look than I’ve ever had because I’ve never had so many kids that were so athletic,” he said.

Harp, who will start as an outside attacker, had the most kills on the team last year with 176 kills.

Keutzer, who had 156 kills, is a “super quiet blocker and what I mean by that is she’s a pogo stick. She’s going to bother a lot of hitters,” Puck said.

Davis, who tied Sierens with 115 kills and 26 blocks, will play center alongside classmate Kathy Maciczak, who played in nine sets for the varsity team last year.

Lawson, who will be eligible to play this year after transferring, was selected to the All-BCR second team as a freshman and led Bureau Valley with 30 blocks (0.38 per set) and 126 kills (1.5 per set).

Following the graduation of setter Natasha Faber-Fox, who now plays at IVCC, Puck will use a 6-2 format this season with juniors Rylie Rauh and Hecht sharing setter duties. Hecht was called up to the postseason last year and gave the Tigresses new momentum off the bench.

“They just took the ball and ran with it,” Puck said. “I kind of threw them in the deep end this summer. I told them, ‘I trust you guys completely.’ And once they earned the trust of their teammates and, more importantly, their own trust, they just played dynamite.”

Driscoll, who was called up to the varsity team as a sophomore to help out on the back row, will take on a larger role this year when she takes over the libero position.

Ava Kyle, a “hothead and a go-getter,” will come up from the second squad this year to bolster the Tigresses’ back-row play. Her classmates Bella Clevenger (DS) and Danika Burden (OPP/OH) will also play on the varsity team.

The area the Tigresses, who had a 16-17-1 record last year, are working on the most is ball control, according to Puck.

“If we get hit, it’s probably on the serve reception. But I think that’s true for every team right now. That’s something that everyone practices and keeps practicing,” he said.

Puck sees the Three Rivers East as competitive, especially with the addition of Erie-Prophetstown from the West, which joins defending champion Newman (10-0), and the other holdouts Mendota, Hall and Kewanee, all of which have improved. PHS finished second behind the Comets a year ago (6-4).

Harp said the Tigresses enter the conference season expecting to win.

“I think this year it’s going to be a lot easier, especially because we have more experience. And everyone on our team is very ambitious, but in a good way,” she said. “So I think it’s going to be easier to win because everyone really wants to win. I think we all agree that we can definitely be a very good team.”

The Tigresses open the season at home against longtime rival La Salle-Peru on Tuesday, August 27. They will host the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, October 12.