By Travis Smola
The Lady Bulldogs only lost two seniors last year and have seemingly picked things up exactly where they left off. In fact, they’re doing even better than last year. The team is 19-4-5 and 5-0 in conference.
“It’s the best record I’ve ever had here,” Head Coach Katrina Miller said after the girls finished off Otsego in a scrappy battle of the Bulldogs in three sets. The match was made a little more difficult due to the hot conditions in the gym. “The heat is miserable. It makes it a lot harder to stay excited and pumped up and that takes so much energy,” Miller said.
The girls beat Otsego pretty easily in the first set 25-16. The next two sets were a little more challenging, but they still managed to come out on top, 25-18 and 25-21. Again this year, Vicksburg is using a very scrappy style of play to wear down almost any opponent they come up against. “Otsego, they always give us a fight,” Miller said. “They have a great coaching staff there so whenever we can beat them, that is good.”
Miller also praised her two seniors for their extraordinary efforts this season. Kaytee Harvey has been a force all year at middle blocker. She always seems to be using her height to knock down opponent’s shots at the net and led the team with 14 kills in the victory over Otsego. “She hasn’t hit under .400 all year,” Miller said. “That’s counting tournaments as well, so that’s big.”
Fellow senior Grace Wile took over as libero this year and has also been a force to reckon with, seemingly always in the thick of things. Wile led the team with 19 digs against Otsego. “She’s had two shoulder surgeries in the last year and messed up her other shoulder at the beginning of this year – and she gets balls up that I don’t even know how she gets to them,” Miller said.