Lady Hubs volleyball coach Molly Sly has seen far more losses than victories over the last two years. But now that she has made the transition from varsity assistant to head coach, Sly will be looking to help the Rochelle program turn things around when the Lady Hubs take the court this fall.

Rochelle will officially begin the 2018 season with tryouts on Wednesday, Aug. 8 before moving into full practices. The Lady Hubs tip off their season with the program’s annual Purple vs. White scrimmage game on Thursday, Aug. 16 at 5:30 p.m. Rochelle will face Ashton-Franklin Center at home on Tuesday, Aug. 21 for its first official game.

“I’m excited to see who all shows up and I’m excited to get tryouts over with and to get into practices so we can be prepared for our first game,” Sly said. “I told the girls during our summer league that we’re looking for a lineup that can beat the other side of the court. I’m hoping that we can work together and push each other to be better than the team on the other side of the court.”

Senior Emma Mehrings will return after playing most of the 2017 season as Rochelle’s primary outside hitter, leading the team with 85 kills. Junior Katie Van Hise has experience playing both middle hitter and right side, which will help considering the Lady Hubs have lost three middle hitters (Morgan Knight, Alexis Crawford and Jacie Wyatt) to graduation.  

“We’re looking for the girls who are going to swing hard and give it their all every single time,” Sly said. “I think we have a lot of options because we have a lot of juniors coming up. I think they will push our seniors to be better than they were when they were juniors.”

Senior Sarah Craven will anchor the Lady Hub defense at the libero position after leading Rochelle in digs last season with 125. Senior Emily Engelkes has experience at the defensive specialist position, and Sly said the key to playing better defense this fall will be improving serve receptions.

“We’re going to focus on our serve-receives and if we can nail those down and create better passes to start off our rallies, I think we’ll be very successful,” Sly said. “Everything starts with a pass so there’s a lot on our back row this coming year.”

Sophomore Clare Green was the lone freshman on the varsity team last season, but Sly said she’s been impressed with Green’s performance at the setter position this summer. The Lady Hubs have fallen in the regional quarterfinals in each of the last two years, and Sly said one goal for the team this fall will be moving further into the regional bracket.

“Clare’s really stepped up for us this summer,” Sly said. “I’m really looking forward to what she does in practice… I would love to see the girls make it farther into regionals, and we’ll talk as a team during our first week of practice about our team goals.”