By TIM GAYLE
Through the first month of the season, Catholic’s volleyball team gave no indication of how dominant it would become later in the season.
Talented, yes. Potential, yes. But the chemistry that coach Sellers Dubberley thought was missing in a run to the 3A finals in 2021 was still absent through the first month of the 2022 season.
Putting the right pieces in the right places is every coach’s goal, but for Catholic those moves turned a good team into an unbeatable one. The Knights dropped just two sets in winning all eight postseason games in the 4A playoffs to capture the school’s first volleyball state championship. Both sets were to Trinity, which defeated the Knights in last year’s 3A finals, but lost to Catholic in this year’s 4A championship match.
“This year’s team, which was very similar to last year’s team in makeup, there were a lot of bumps along the way that people would never see, never know,” Dubberley said. “I think a lot of that had to do with the frustration from the way last year ended. This year’s team was one of the most difficult seasons I’ve had because I knew the pieces we had. I’m not convinced the girls really believed or knew what we had in front of them.
“This year had more extreme ups and downs than any team I’ve ever coached. So I do think the way it ended, it was needed. This year will absolutely be the most memorable season I’ve had in my eight years of coaching, not because it was the easiest or most fun or the worst. It was just extreme highs and lows the whole way.”
Capital City Conference coaches noticed, voting Dubberley as the CCC coach of the year. He also won the award in 2019 when he guided the Knights to the semifinals of the state tournament for the first time in school history. And just how talented was Dubberley’s team? Four of the Knights were mentioned by the five CCC coaches as potential candidates for player of the year honors, an indication of the talent on the team -- and the Capital City Conference. Coaches finally settled on Catholic senior Lennon McAnnally, the person that Dubberley describes as the “heart and soul” of the Knights.
“She is up here, at (level) 11 (on a 10-point scale), all the time, picking people up, energy, making eye contact with me, what do we need to be doing,” Dubblerley said. “We get a point and I’m trying to tell some of them what we need to be doing or we’re still out of position here and I have to fight to get their attention. That’s fine, I want them locked in on the court, but with her, immediately, eye contact, what do you need us to do
“All guts and just leadership and energy, putting everybody on her shoulder. I’ll never coach another kid like her. I know that for a fact.”
McAnnally was selected by the Capital City Conference coaches to the 2021 team as well and is one of four players on the 2022 all-CCC squad who also earned the same status as first-team players in 2021, including 2021 player of the year Addison Cherry of Trinity, the Wildcats’ setter who earned first-team status the past three years.
ALL-CAPITAL CITY CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL TEAM:
Lennon McAnally, Sr., OH, Catholic
Addi Vinson, So., S, Montgomery Academy
Addison Cherry, Sr., S, Trinity
Emma Moody, Sr., OH, TrinityHONORABLE MENTION: Gray Brendle, DS, Sr., Trinity; Ava Card, OH, Jr., Saint James; Kaylin Corley, OH, Fr., Saint James; Isabel Hill, DS, Jr., Trinity; Harper Howell, MH, So., Catholic; Isabella Johnson, MH, Jr., Montgomery Academy; Elle McBride, OH, So., Montgomery Academy; Reese Patterson, OH, Sr., Trinity; Anna Prempramont, DS-S, Jr., Alabama Christian Academy; Annabelle Pugh, DS, Jr., Alabama Christian Academy; Allyse Rudolph, OH, Sr., Catholic; Maria Schwarz, S, So., Catholic; Taegan Scott, MH, So., Alabama Christian Academy; Parker Shegone, DS, Sr., Montgomery Academy; Tatiana Shuford, S, So., Saint James; Emma Kate Smith, OH, Sr., Trinity; Allyson Thornton, S-OH, Sr., Alabama Christian Academy.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- Lennon McAnnally,
Catholic
COACH OF THE YEAR -- Sellers Dubberly,
Catholic