Lewis preps Belle Vernon volleyball team for season opener
After coaching the girl’s volleyball team at Belle Vernon for the past four seasons, Christy Lewis has taken on a new challenge this spring as she takes over the boy’s volleyball program at the school. Lewis has two returning players from last year’s team – seniors Neil Podrosky and Rob Anderson – and also welcomes nine players who enter the season with no prior volleyball experience.
While coaching such an inexperienced roster would seem like a tall task for a first year coach – or any coach for that matter – Lewis has taken an energetic and optimistic approach to the upcoming season.
“I thought it would be a lot different than coaching the girls but it really hasn’t been,” Lewis said. “They’re all still teenagers, they all want to succeed and they all take it very seriously.”
Her hope is that as the new players gain actual game experience their confidence will continue to build and eventually help lead to more wins in the standings.
“You can already see the two returning players are going to be our leaders,” Lewis said.
“Matt Lazar is another kid that has been impressive so far for us. During the first scrimmage some of the kids looked a little nervous but as the play continued they really started to pick it up and it was almost like they said to themselves, ‘Hey, I’m starting to get this.'”
The Leopards will participate in Section 3-AA along with Derry, Latrobe, Steel Valley, South Park and Thomas Jefferson.
Lewis specifically mentioned Derry and Thomas Jefferson as two schools to watch for this upcoming season.
“Derry has a wonderful team this year and Thomas Jefferson always has a phenomenal program,” said Lewis.
One thing that Lewis pointed to as something that could potentially help the team in the future is the addition of a middle school program at Belle Vernon.
“I really believe that Belle Vernon would greatly benefit from having some kind of middle school program,” said Lewis. “And not just from a boys standpoint, but from a girls standpoint as well.”
“Right now we have nine boys that have been playing volleyball for six days and we’re going up against kids that have been playing for years. It’s a challenge, and I think some sort of middle school program is something that could really help us down the line.”
The Leopards open their season on Tuesday, March 27, when they travel to Steel Valley. Their first home game will be two days later when South Park invades the Belle Vernon gym.