Jennifer Shade coached the Brownstown Central volleyball team to a record of 24-14 last fall and to the Class 2A state finals where the Lady Braves lost to Burris in the championship match.

With several key players returning, Shade feels like her team has an excellent chance to return to Muncie in November.

“We have all (regulars) returning except for one middle hitter and a setter,” Shade said as she begins her 27th season coaching the Braves.

Seniors on the squad are Addison Darlage, Haley Derringer, Kinzee Dean, Noelani McPherson, and Jaydynn Yeadon.

Yeadon, who was on the all-state second team last fall, had a team-leading 576 digs, and served 32 aces. Dean had 208 kills and 48 blocks; Darlage had 219 kills.

Sophie Wischmeier had 447 kills last fall while earning first-team all-state honors, and Finley Wheeler had 630 assists last fall. Both are juniors.

Shade said, “We’ll run a 5-1 this year so we’ll only have one setter. Finley will run a 5-1, but Olivia Fritz has stepped in as a DS (defensive specialist) in that spot.”

Wischmeier and Darlage will be outside hitters with Dean and Claire Brock in the middle.

“We are blessed with more hitters than we can play. It’s awesome to have a front line all the way across,” Shade said. “We’ll run five hitters and all of them are capable of putting the ball away. So, we have a lot of weapons.

“We run more of a middle-orientated, quick tempo offense.”

Yeadon will fill the libero role for the second straight season, with McPherson, Alex Davidson, Fritz, and Hunter Trueblood all DSs, “that I can inter-change in and out. I don’t worry about our defense. Our girls are hustlers, and they work really hard on defense and blocking. We’ve done so much on blocking drills.”

Yeadon said she enjoys filling the role of libero.

“As a passer, we get to control the game, we get to read the blocks, know where we get to make that pass so we can run our offense. I would say it is very important to win the first set. It helps us get momentum built up, and it just helps us finish the set.

“If we lose the first set, we get down on ourselves and we have to work really hard to win that second set. We’ve had good practices, a bunch of teamwork and that will take us far hopefully. We have a really tough schedule. Teamwork is big.”

Yeadon said she likes the family atmosphere with the volleyball program.

“We’re one big family, so if something happens to you it kind of happens to everyone and we’re there for everyone.”

Darlage said she always plays left side hitter. “No. 1 I like a perfect pass which we have. Our passes have improved a lot. We’ve got one setter this year. Finley will be a good setter. It take all three things to put it down”

She said she enjoys the community support.

“We have our whole community behind our backs. Any game you come to you’ll see a ton of fans. Everybody is sharing and it just shows how many people you have on your back. You’re not alone out there.”

Darlage said the practices have been intense.

“She’s been pushing us, conditioning us and we’re excited to play and see what else we need to work on I think we were undefeated at Jennings County this summer.”

Shade said it’s nice to have a lot of depth. “It’s beneficial too because in a lot of 6-on-6, the second six pushes the first six on the other side of the net, and it makes the whole practice better so everybody on this team is important.”

Most of the varsity players played club volleyball in the spring, and the Braves played in a summer league at Jennings County, and they played in a tournament at Hanover College.

“This is a team that really wants to win, and they’ve put in the time in the off-season, and they work harder at practice,” Shade said.

She mentioned the schedule is filled with Class 4A teams again, and the Braves will play in tournaments at Bloomington South, Providence, New Albany, and Carmel.

“I don’t think we play a bad match all year,” Shade said. “I think the thing we’re focusing the most on in practice is, our team is a little bit quiet so we’re pushing them to be more vocal and communicate with each-other a little bit more.

“That just ups your whole enthusiasm to play, but we’ve got to work on meeting a challenge. So, when things don’t go our way how are we going to stop it and turn it around? That’s probably the biggest thing I saw last year, so rolling into this season I want see us meet a challenge and get that hunger to go win every game.

‘We have the talent, we have the players, we have the mindset, now we just have to learn how to handle any situation that we’re thrown in and just get better every day.”

The Braves will open their season Tuesday at Eastern with the varsity set to start at 7 p.m.

Their home opener will be Thursday against Bloomington North.