Central – With a strong nucleus returning from a volleyball team that went 22-8, won Region 1-AAA and advanced to the third round of the state playoffs, Daniel High School was expecting to have a strong campaign in 2023.
That has happened as the Lions owned a 24-7-2 record through matches of October 3. More importantly though, Daniel has wrapped up the region title once again. They own an 8-0 record with two region matches left.
Despite all of the success, head coach Hayley Hoover is impressed with how her team takes nothing for granted.
“I am proud of how hard this team works and how coachable they are,” Hoover said. “We have made great progress this year because of their work ethic on the court and in the weight room.”
The Lions have a 10-player rotation that gets regular time on the court. The leaders are senior captains Lilli Ward and Sydney Siders. Ward is a setter and Siders an outside hitter.
The other members of the rotation are senior rightside hitter Cheyne Holder, junior outside hitter Sydney Hapeshis, junior middle blocker Sarah Ulrich, senior rightside hitter Makayla Keller, senior defensive specialist Chaney Crosby, senior middle blocker Jules Grass, sophomore middle blocker Zara Russell and sophomore outside hitter Ava Ross.
“Our strengths are our strong defense and serve receive,” Hoover said.
Ulrich is the team leader in blocks with 115 while Russell has 88 and Holder 36. Siders leads in digs with 316 followed by Ross with 286, Hapeshis with 273, Ward with 149, Holder with 136 and Crosby with 122.
The Lions have had only 96 errors in 1,038 serves received. Ross has received 231 serves, Siders 228, Hapeshis 207 and Holder 193. They only have 70 errors between them.
Siders is the leader in kills with 288. Three other Lions have over 100 kills in Holder (151), Keller (103) and Ulrich (103).
As a team, Daniel has a serving percentage of 92.9 led by Siders and Ward at 97.7 percent and Hapeshis at 97.1. Ross leads in service aces with 51 followed by Siders with 34, Crosby with 26 and Hapeshis with 23. Siders has the most service points with 138 followed by Ross with 113 and Crosby with 86.
Ward is far and away the assist leader with 563.
The rest of the roster includes junior Blakley Pilgrim, junior Chloe Miller, junior Savannah Cato, senior Mckenzie Schaupp, senior Callen Duncan, senior Jasy Donald, junior Kaylon Chapman, junior Paige Miller and junior Bryn Chasteen.
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