Those attending volleyball games for Jefferson Davis Community College this season will see several new faces on the team.
One new face will be the face of new head coach Allen Gainer. Gainer, who is also the basketball coach at JDCC, is the new head coach for the Lady Warhawks this fall after taking over for former JDCC volleyball coach Misti Nims who resigned her duties from volleyball to serve as fulltime softball head coach.
The other new faces will come from the Lady Warhawk team as only one returning player from Nims’ 2012 team—Liz McCrary— will be on this year’s JDCC team.
“Liz is from Pensacola and will be our only returning player from last year’s team,” Gainer said. “We will look for Liz to provide leadership on and off the court to all the new girls. While in the past Liz has been a setter, she has expressed a willingness to help the team in whatever capacity we need her. We will likely use her as a libero as well as a setter.”
Shunetta Adams, from Leroy High School in Alabama, attended JDCC last year but did not play volleyball.
“We will expect Shunetta to provide leadership as well, being an experienced college student,” Gainer said. “I expect her to be a defensive specialist for us.”
New to JDCC this fall will be three players from Central High School in Florida, three from Northview High School in Florida, and one each from Clarke Prep High School in Grove Hill, Navarre, Satsuma, Flomaton and T.R. Miller.
“From Central High School we have signed three girls,” Gainer said. “Brittney Forsythe is an athletic, multi-talented player that will play a variety of positions for us. Natalie Jernigan is an exceptional passer that we will use as a sometimes defensive specialist and sometimes setter. Haleigh Padgett is a talented attacker that hits the ball with power and will play all across the front row for us.”
From Northview will be Morgan Payne, Morgan Smith and Taylor Roberson.
“From Northview we also signed three girls,” Gainer said. “Morgan Payne is very fundamentally sound and capable of playing a variety of positions for us. Morgan Smith has a very long reach and will provide strong depth across our front row. Taylor Roberson is outstanding at digging tough balls and will be a strong defender for us.”
Taylor Bradford will come to JDCC from Clarke Prep in Grove Hill.
“Taylor tested as the most athletic player we had try out for us,” Gainer said. “She has an outstanding vertical leap and will be a major part of our offensive schemes.”
Lauren Pierce comes to JDCC from Satsuma.
“Lauren was probably the most skilled player we had try out,” Gainer said. “She is very athletic and capable of playing every position on the floor.”
Kyndal Cunningham is from Navarre and will join the JDCC volleyball team this fall.
“Kyndal is an outstanding leaper and will also be a major part of our offensive plans,” Gainer said. “Her athleticism should allow us to attack from anywhere across the front row.”
Local players coming to JDCC in 2013 will be Christina Gohagan from Flomaton and Lauren Bradley from T.R. Miller.
“Christina blew us away in our tryouts with her ability to accurately serve with tremendous power,” Gainer said. “We look for her to be our go-to server. Lauren Bradley is from T.R. Miller and is a talented blocker. She has a knack for getting her hands on every ball that is attacked and will significantly strengthen our defense.”
Laurel Billy, also from T. R. Miller, has agreed to serve as the team’s manager this year.
As of press time, JDCC’s schedule for 2013 was not known.
Gainer said due to new restrictions on when scholarships become effective, he will not be able to get his team together in Brewton until Monday, August 12.
JDCC’s first game is set to be played against the University of Mobile JV on Monday, August 26 in Brewton at 6 p.m.
Following their opener with Mobile’s JV team, JDCC will square off with Hanceville on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. in Brewton.