Volleyball notebook: Princeton getting in shape for new season

The first week of Andy Puck’s volleyball practices at Princeton High School are always the toughest with a heavy dose of conditioning to prepare for the upcoming season.

Senior captain Ellie Harp said the Tigresses made it through the conditioning week in good shape and are ready to go for the season.

“Every year it starts off rough, but by the end, everyone’s having fun and feels all good about the season,” she said.

Harp is one of two returning seniors for the Tigresses, joined by classmate Karsyn Brucker.

The Tigresses will have a heavy dose of juniors with the talents of Keighley Davis, Camryn Driscoll, Riley Rauh, Makayla Hecht, Kathy Maciczak and Caroline Keutzer, who all some varsity time last year as well as Riley Rauh and newcomer Keely Lawson.

The Tigresses will open the season on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at home versus longtime rival LaSalle-Peru.

New conference

Bureau Valley has joined the Lincoln Trail Conference after years in the Three Rivers Conference.

Other league members are Abingdon-Avon, Annawan, Galva, Knoxville, Monmouth United, Princeville, ROWVA-Williamsfield, Stark County, West Central, Wethersfield and Ridgewood, the co-op of Cambridge and AlWood.

The Storm will open the season on Monday, Aug. 26 at home against Riverdale and mark their debut in Lincoln Trail play on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at Wethersfield.

New coaches

There are new coaches at St. Bede and Mendota this fall.

Former IVCC head coach and player Kaitlyn Edgcomb has taken over at St. Bede, succeeding Abbi Bosnich, who resigned after four seasons.

She had a turnaround season at IVCC, guiding the Eagles to a 13-9 record last season after taking over a team that went 4-29 the year before.

Veteran coach Demi Salazar is back in the game as the new coach at Mendota. The longtime coach has coached at seven high schools around the Illinois Valley, including two stints as head coach at Hall, most recently in 2019.

This mark Salazar’s 50th season coaching volleyball, including high school and club teams.

Salazar, 65, has coached eight regional champions and four sectional champions with one state finalist (2005 at Hall) with a career high school record of 402-232-4 (.634).

He is believed to be the only coach in state history to have won a regional at three schools (PC, Hall and Henry).

Defending champions

Newman, which went 10-0 in the East division, and Orion, which was 12-0 in the West, are the defending champions in the Three Rivers Conference.

Other defending champions around the area are Woodland (Tri-County), Annawan (Lincoln Trail) and Rock Falls (Big Northern) and Newark (Little Ten).