We’re pretty fortunate to have a big senior group and that way the freshmen don’t have to feel pressured into varsity action. With this many girls out as a 1A school, I think it’s great, and something we can use to our advantage.”

Coach Cora Fitzgerald

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The Lady Tigers travel to compete at the Lingle-Fort Laramie Tournament on Friday, August 30. Games begin at 8:30 a.m.

LUSK – With a large group of seniors, new Lady Tiger head volleyball coach Cora Fitzgerald has a solid base of experience to build around. Eight, to be exact. A handful of juniors and sophomores and nine freshmen adds up to 24 girls playing.

“It’s always difficult to go through change and everyone has different coaching styles,” Gracie ZumBrunnen said. “But it will help us as we get older and learn to adapt to different philosophies.”

Fitzgerald is a Moorcroft graduate and beginning her fifth year teaching at the grade school. She has also coached in Sundance and Rock Springs, in addition to three years as an assistant at NCHS.

“I’ve been blessed to work under some phenomenal coaches who have been around the block a few times,” she mentioned. “I’ll take what I’ve learned from them and incorporate it into what we’re beginning here. I want the girls to have high expectations but reachable goals.”

Assisting Fitzgerald is Shelly Bruch and Mattie Pfister, with Haven Hendricks, Skielynn Bouissey and Abby Glavan as team managers. Bruch is no stranger to the sidelines with 13 years of experience coaching and Pfister begins her second year on the bench.

“It’s so nice to have two coaches who’ve been in the program before with me,” Fitzgerald said. “And with this many girls, we can do a lot of different things.”

ZumBrunnen is a two-time all-conference player. Hannah Krein also earned the award two seasons ago while Tessa Manning, Paige Potter, Jaylah Cummins, Christina Munoz, Kyra Willey and Laney Single provide so many options for Fitzgerald. They are quite familiar with each other as she coached them as freshmen and sophomores.

“Gracie is a strong outside hitter,” Fitzgerald added. “Tessa will be setting. Paige should be a force for us in the middle of the net and Lainey has developed into a good libero. Hannah’s right there too and then you add Jaylah, Christina and Kyra to the mix. I really like this group we’ve got.”

“I think we’ve learned how to play with each other and know what to expect after these past couple years together,” said Krein.

Potter added, “It’s been an adjustment and we’ve had a lot of that in our few years, but it’s going well so far.”

Brittin Bruch, Sarah Krein and Marleigh Smith were mentioned as underclassmen that might sneak into the varsity rotation. But, with good numbers, it shouldn’t be difficult for the junior varsity and C squad to get plenty of games in.

“We’re pretty fortunate to have a big senior group and that way the freshmen don’t have to feel pressured into varsity action,” Fitzgerald noted. “With this many girls out as a 1A school, I think it’s great, and something we can use to our advantage.”

The Lady Tigers open their season this Friday at the Lingle-Fort Laramie tournament. NCHS will square off against four teams – Upton, Hulett, Hanna-Elk Mountain and Arvada-Clearmont – in a rolling schedule beginning at 8:30 a.m.