Receiving special honors at Seymour’s volleyball awards program Thursday night were, front from left, Greer Henry, Anna Fish, Journee Brown and Norah Campbell, and back from left, Katherine Veatch, Delaney Thomasma and Raeann Baker.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Anna Fish did a lot for the Seymour volleyball team this season.
She was the setter and topped the Owls in assists with 472. She was second on the team in attack kills with 280, second in serving aces with 52 and third in blocks with 30 (five solo, 25 assisted).
She was named to the all-Hoosier Hills Conference first team and has been named Seymour’s most valuable player. The sophomore’s honor was announced by head coach Angie Lucas at the team’s awards program Thursday night in the commons.
“(Fish) played six rotations in our lineup. She was one of our co-captains this year. She grew tremendously this year in her leadership ability and worked hard in every match and in practice,” Lucas said. “She became an outstanding teammate and made everyone around her better.”
Greer Henry received the Laura Culp Mental Attitude Award. Henry suffered a knee injury at the end of the 2022-23 basketball season and planned to play volleyball this fall but had a setback and didn’t get to see any action on the court.
“This award holds a special place in my heart as it’s named after former Seymour volleyball player Laura Culp, a 1998 Seymour High School graduate,” Lucas said.
Lucas said Henry showed up for practice every day and encouraged her teammates.
Journee Brown received the hitting award for having 329 kills and the blocking award for having 67 total blocks. She also was named all-HHC honorable mention.
Norah Campbell received the defensive award for having 310 digs and the serving plaque for having a serving percentage of 94.9 (334 of 352).
Delaney Thomasma was named the most improved player.
Brown and Katherine Veatch received four-year varsity awards, and Raeann Baker, Delaney Thomasma, Henry and Emerson Johnson received three-year varsity awards.
Seniors Brown, Veatch and Baker were named academic all-state Gold Division.
“I’m proud of these senior athletes,” Lucas said. “Not only did they work hard on the volleyball court but also in the classroom. These three represent what we want all of our players to achieve.”
The Owls opened the season with wins over Jeffersonville and Columbus North and then dropped seven straight matches.
“We faced many challenges at the beginning of our season,” Lucas said.
The Owls were 1-3 in the Avon tournament on Sept. 2.
“The Avon tournament is always a turning point for us,” Lucas said. “We beat Crown Point in extra points to finish that day. I think learning that they could push through certain points during a match, they learned how to do that at that tournament, and then they just carried it over.”
Lucas spoke about changing players to different positions helping the team.
“We made some lineup changes, which helped, as well, and moved some kids to different positions, and that seemed to help, as well,” she said. “Overall, the girls came together as a family, and it made a huge difference after that Avon tournament.”
The Owls left Avon that day with a record of 5-12. They then put together a 10-match win streak before losing back-to-back to Franklin and Silver Creek.
Seymour followed that up with a seven-match win streak before falling to Floyd Central in the finals of the Class 4A Seymour Sectional, finishing 19-15 on the season.
“Instead of giving up, they worked hard every day,” Lucas said. “To finish 19-15 is remarkable.”
Seymour’s junior varsity team finished 13-17, and Kennedy Burnette received the coach’s award. The freshman team was 7-5, and Corrina Corcoran received the coach’s award.