North Hills volleyball builds around young hitters

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 8, 2017 | 11:00 PM

Each year, every coach is going to have to deal with replacing key players lost to graduation.

For Anna Sondergard and the North Hills girls volleyball program, the losses were deeper than that.

All summer long, instead of preparing her team, Sondergard was focused on finding a new coaching staff with her assistant and JV coach on maternity leave and Sondergard not being able to coach the junior high team because of the change in seasons.

“The hard part for us is that we had a junior high team that played in the spring, and our section voted to have it moved to the fall,” Sondergard said. “So when I started five years ago, I wanted to have complete control and teach the girls when they were young and took over the middle school program. I was able to have my hands in everything and my JV coached helped me in everything. She just had a baby so she is not coaching this year and with the schedule change, it has now opened up three coaching spots.”

After an extensive search, Sondergard found the right fit to assist her and lead the junior varsity team in Dan Bright.

Bright came over from Mt. Lebanon, and coaches one of the men's club teams at Carnegie Mellon.

On the court, the Indians had to replace a pair of middle hitters as well, and Sondergard has done so with a pair of underclassmen.

Freshman Asia Neill is the first freshman in Sondergard's five years as head coach to make varsity, let alone start.

“Asia has stepped in and is just competitive,” Sondergard said. “She is eager to learn.”

Joining Neill is sophomore Bryanna Lawry, who has benefitted from working with Sondergard since junior high.

“They both have a ton of potential and are still learning,” Sondergard said. “They are going to be good. It is going to be a learning process for them this year.”

The Indians (0-1 overall) are coming off a tough season where it didn't seem like anything went their way, losing every close match they competed in. Sondergard and company are ready to put that behind them and make the playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years.

“Last year was a frustrating year,” Sondergard said. “We had what I thought was going to be my most successful team. We would go four or five games with every team and would lose. It was a mental battle. It was exhausting for everybody. Our team didn't mesh really well.

“We have a tough section, it has always been that way. We still have not made the playoffs since like 1989 or something crazy like that. That is always a goal of ours. We have a tough schedule out of section too.”

Drew Karpen is a freelance writer.

Tags: North Hills