Volleyball: A new slate of coaches

Head Coach Kassiah Hudson starts the season with a clean slate as the Head Volleyball coach for the Lady Bucks. She brought along Anthony Kelly as her assistant and he will coach the Lady Bucks Junior Varsity team, which has three juniors and a parcel of sophomores and one lone freshman. Coach Hudson also added Kyrah Bailey of Hawley, who will coach the freshman team. She played two years of college volleyball, which should help in the knowledge of the game area. This is her first year of coaching. Heather Reatherford is a BHS gal who has returned and she will coach the junior high girl’s volleyball and basketball teams and will have her first year of coaching. She will also help Anthony Kelly coach the Lady Bucks softball team. She was an outstanding softball player during her tenure at BHS and will have an opportunity to encourage and inspire the girls on the field. She also played two years of college softball at Angelo State University and won two state championship rings.

It is a new season and a new challenge faces all the teams with the COVID Virus.

The Lady Bucks will face all of the teams in District 7-3A, which includes Bowie, Henrietta, Holliday, Jacksboro, Nocona and Wichita Falls City View. Nocona is the only team in our district ranked in the state 3A projections at No. 15 and could be the big threat in this district along with Henrietta, but not if Coach Hudson has anything to say about it. Three opponents from last year’s alignment are ranked in the top10 and include Boyd No. 1, Brock No.2 and Peaster No. 9.

“I feel good about our chances and look forward to the season with some height on the line and experienced heavy hitters,” said Coach Hudson.

Kylee Willis is the only senior with experience under her belt and is a fine outside hitter on the front line along with Lilly Woodward, who is only a junior, but hits very well upfront. Reigen Robertson, although a senior, did not play volleyball at all last year and the other senior, Alexia Saucedo, is up from the JV squad. Jesi Warren is a sophomore who also played on the varsity last year as a freshman and will bring her experience and polished skills as an outside hitter to the Lady Bucks. The other members of the Lady Bucks varsity are all up from the JV team and will bring added experience to help the lone freshman, Haylie Mendoza.

“The Lady Bucks demonstrate teamwork and are mentally tough athletes with a fighting heart,” said Head Volleyball Coach Hudson. “We have gained some height since last year, which we’re working on and hoping it becomes our largest strength. We focus on defense and reading and exposing our opponents’ weaknesses. We are a varsity team of many young athletes which could be both a strength and a weakness, but for the present and future of our program we get to hold onto these girls a little longer at the varsity level, which is a good thing moving forward beyond this season.”