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Sibling rivalry heats up on volleyball court |
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Tuesday, 07 October 2008 |
Ridgway coach Janet Redmond and Johnsonburg coach Bill Shuey are brother and sister. Tonight they lead their respective teams to battle.
By Joseph Bell
Record Staff Writer
The Johnsonburg Ramettes will be looking for revenge in heated territory tonight as they travel to Ridgway for a rematch against the Lady Elkers, who are now 4-5 this season.
To add fuel to the fire, Bill Shuey, head volleyball coach for the Ramettes will be directing his team against his sister, Janet Redmond, sitting at the helm of the Lady Elkers' volleyball program as first-year head coach.
According Redmond, whose team defeated the Ramettes in their own gymnasium Sept. 4, her team is going to practice its blocking.
"We're going to work on our blocking to really get up and put some pressure on their hitters. Blocking, weak side, strong side, and middle, Lauren (Gaspari) blocks all the time in the middle but we don't block on the outside so we need to work on that," Redmond said. "That (Johnsonburg sophomore) Cody Anderson is a strong hitter, she's young, but once she gets into a groove, she's going to put them down. When we first played them, she was off that night. We hit her on a good night but it's going to be a tough game."
Thinking back to the first meeting between the two teams this year, Redmond said her brother underestimated her team.
"He underestimated us and he was disappointed," Redmond said. "We rattled those girls but they're going to be coming into this gym not to be rattled so we got to keep our heads together too so we'll see how that one rolls out."
However, according to Shuey, underestimation was not the issue.
"I don't think I underestimated them. I think our girls weren't ready mentally," Shuey said. "The crowd noise may have affected them."
The game also featured countless errors, most of them costing Johnsonburg.
"We missed 22 serves that day, that's 22 points that we lost. I don't care who we were playing, we weren't going to win that night," Shuey said. "If we had won that fourth game, if you recall, we missed two serves in a row late and if we maybe had won that, I don't know how Ridgway would have fared going into the fifth game that early in the year. Now they're used to that now and they're used to going to five games. They've gone to five games with teams and have won; they've beat Kane that way and they lost to Sheffield that way."
Redmond agreed with Shuey concerning errors on the court.
It's going to be a battle so we'll just see which team makes the least amount of errors," Redmond said.
The weekend following the Lady Elkers' win over Johnsonburg, the teams clashed again in the Elk County Tournament.
"In the county tournament, we beat each team once and Johnsonburg beat us once," Redmond said. "Going into that, we were just coming off the high of beating Johnsonburg and the girls were excited. They were a little out of sorts that weekend and maybe didn't believe in themselves again. At this point in the season, I feel they have that determination and that belief in themselves again. It's going to be a true test this time."
While Shuey has an experienced team and veteran knowledge on his side, he said his sister has succeeded as a first-year coach.
"I think she's doing great job and she's showing a lot of leadership and with any coaching position, you have to be a strong leader and be committed to what you think is the best for the whole majority of the team. It's not easy, and you put yourself out on that limb sometimes and people want to chop it off," Shuey said. "You have to be committed to what you're doing. One piece of advice that I gave her, 'you have to do it your way,' and that's the way that you have to do it, don't try to mimic anybody, don't try to satisfy anybody, just do it the way you think is the best way to do it. I'm looking forward to it." |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 October 2008 )
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