Hanna Hinderlider says she feels her Medora volleyball team is very capable of posting a winning record this fall.

Hinderlider, in her second season as head coach of the Hornets, will have a young team with one senior -Brelee Underwood – and a small team with just seven players.

“Brelee will be all-around, but she helps us up front with blocking, and she’ll be one of our main hitters, and she was last year,” Hinderlider said. “She can hit outside, or she can hit back. If I need her to block in the middle, she will pull and block in the middle.

“Another one of our hitters that will help us out big is Lilian Hatchett, who played last year. She was one of our good hitters, too, so I’m counting on her to step up and really help us out. Junior Maddie Reece will help us up front with hitting.”

Underwood said, “I started playing volleyball in middle school and never stopped. I mostly hit outside, but I’ll hit anywhere. I enjoy smacking balls down on people. That’s my favorite.”

She said she wants to fill a leadership role for the younger players.

“I plan to be a role model for them, considering I’m the only senior. I try to make the team better and more uplifted.

“I’m looking forward to winning but making everybody better. We need teamwork.”

The setter is freshman Josie Bowers.

“Over the summer we practiced, and I think Josie is going to do a good job in that role,” Hinderlider said.

Isabella Spence, Breonna Evans, and Winnie Thompson are back row players. Spence and Thompson did not play last year. Thompson will also be counted on for blocking.

Hinderlider said she has seen a big improvement in serving.

“We had two girls, back in May, who couldn’t get their serves over-handed, and (Wednesday) at practice they served multiple times in a row hitting them over, so there was a lot of improvement over the summer.

“We took advantage of the limited contact period back in May and started, then took a couple week break until the summertime, so we’ve been in her all summer, and I’ve seen so many improvements from the girls with passing, serving, hitting and of course our setter has learned to set.

“I knew we were going to have to focus a lot on finding a setter and working on that, so I wanted to spend all summer working on that and get her a lot of practice before we actually started the season.”

Hinderlider said she expects the attacking and serving to be strong.

“Lillie and Brelee are both really good hitters, and they are both really good servers. Just the improvement with passing over the summer and covering and stuff has been good. We’ve been doing a lot of six-on-six.

“Our practices have been a lot of game-like situations, and how to play in the game. Our coverage, our passing is tremendous, and I’m proud of them.”

The Hornets have their first four matches at home, tonight against Madison Christian, Thursday against West Washington, August 27 against Pleasant View Christian and August 29 against Seven Oaks Classical with all of those except West Washington being Southern Roads Conference games.

Medora will host the conference tournament on September 21.

Hinderlider spoke about some keys for a winning season.

“We need teamwork, to be patient and not get down on themselves when they make a mistake,” she said.

She recalled last year the Hornets won their first set at Madison Christian, and went on to win the match, and that gave them a big mental boost.

She said that was the first time Medora had won an opening set for a long time. “I’m hoping we can do that again. It will give us a big boost of confidence.”

Underwood also said winning the first set is a confidence builder.

“It definitely helps uplift your spirit. It doesn’t bring you down.”