On the third night of her coaching career, on the road with an 0-2 record and a 25-11 thumping in the first set of match three, Molly Hill decided it was time, to borrow a Southern expression, for a word of prayer with her Polk County Wolverines.
“I got onto them because we got stomped that first game,” Hill said of that first-set loss at Enka. “I was like, ‘Is this how you really want to be known? This is what we’re going to play like?’ I felt like that was the night where they really stepped up and showed, OK, we have to be confident and we have to believe we can do this.
“After that game, maybe that was the turning point and that was the click.”
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The Wolverines indeed clicked that night, rallying for a 3-2 win over the Jets, and continued clicking the remainder of the season, posting a 19-6 record, earning a share of the Western Highlands Conference regular-season title and reaching the third round of the state 2A playoffs.
The accomplishments led to Hill being named the WHC coach of the year, a fitting stamp on a season that Polk County began with high expectations and met nearly all of them.
“I am extremely pleased,” Hill said. “The group of girls I had this season was amazing, More than just good athletes, they were good people and good students, very well-rounded and respected. That made it much easier and more helpful for it being my first year. I couldn’t have asked for a much better first year.
“I didn’t really know what to expect. This is my first year coaching and my first year with a real teaching job and so much on my plate, and I felt like I just came right into it. I got hired on a Friday and the next Monday I started volleyball. It all came on pretty quickly, but I just tried to stay calm and enjoy the ride and not get stressed out about it.”
Helping to ease that stress was a group of returnees led by all-conference seniors Kara Overholt and Sarah Phipps and junior Lily Owens, plus a talented group of freshmen from Polk County Middle’s undefeated 2013-14 team that also experienced national success last summer playing club volleyball with Xcel Volleyball in Hendersonville. Hill opted to keep three of those freshmen – Reagan Waddell, Cameron Capozzi and Kendall Hall – on the varsity roster, and they, along with Ashley Love, Savannah Ross and Addie Lynch, formed a nine-player squad that Hill would use for almost the entire season.
That group also led to many expecting the Wolverines to challenge league power Hendersonville for conference supremacy, setting high expectations for Hill in her first season.
Polk County opened the season with a tough five-set loss at 3A power West Henderson, then dropped its home opener to Brevard before that key win over Enka. Despite the 0-2 start, Hill already had a feeling just how good the Wolverines could be,.
“I knew that I was getting a group of really good girls and freshmen that were undefeated last year at the middle school. I wanted to carry that on, to have another good year,” Hill said. “It wasn’t a pressure that made me nervous, it was a good pressure. This is what I’m being handed, let’s see what you can do with it kind of thing.
“I was at the point of telling myself don’t get frustrated, don’t get frustrated. I felt like these girls had never been told how good they were and what they could do and have that expectation and accountability a little bit higher. I had that for them since day one because I knew how good they could be and I saw the potential. It was really just me having to make them believe it and make them confident about it. That’s just what I kept saying even until the very last playoff game, we have to be confident and we have to believe we can do this.”
Believe, they did, and the victories started coming in waves, including a nine-game winning streak at season’s end that included a four-set triumph over Hendersonville to earn a share of the WHC title. The Bearcats would go on to claim the state 2A championship, the third straight state title for the program.
So as the Wolverines start thinking about next season and beyond, they only need to look a few miles up the road to find a measuring stick for how they rate against the state’s best.
“I definitely think it’s a good thing,” Hill said. “I think it puts a little competition and fire into the girls. That’s always the team you want to beat, the team that won state and made it so far. It’s a great accomplishment this year in that we can say we beat the state championship team. But that’s definitely going to be a huge goal next year, to make it farther and see our name at state.
“I like playing against tougher competition. When I played, it made me play better, it made my team play better, it’s a more exciting game. I definitely feel like the girls feel that way, too.”
Her first season concluded, Hill is already thinking about 2015, when the Wolverines will return three all-conference players in Love, Owens and Hall while losing just two starters. Those two starters, though, will be huge losses, with Phipps and Overholt, the latter honored as the conference player of the year, so instrumental in this year’s success.
“Sarah and Kara were so special, and they will be truly, truly missed,” Hill said. “Kara is just unbelievable, and she is so deserving of everything she got this season. I can’t think of anyone in this conference or this region who can do what she does. I may be biased, but I talked to a number of other coaches and college coaches all over the state and they all agreed that she is one of the best setters in North Carolina for her age. That in itself is just enough that she has hundreds of other coaches saying that about her.
“Sarah, she’s the same way. She’s so much more than just a volleyball player and an outside hitter. She’s so well-rounded and one of the nicest people I know. Everything is positive and everything is I’m going to be a leader and do the right thing and I love that about her. She’s got one of the heaviest arms and most powerful arms in this conference and this region. When she hits the ball and she really gets on it, there’s nobody that wants to be behind it.”
But Hill is optimistic that the returning class of players, plus reinforcements from the junior varsity program, will help compensate for the loss of Overholt and Phipps and help build the Polk program into one of the state’s best.
“I’ve always thinking about the next few years and at the same time, it makes me really excited because I think about Kendall Hall and these freshmen this year who accomplished so much,” Hill said. “Kendall, the leader in the nation among freshmen for digs. What a huge accomplishment. It makes me really excited to see what she is going to be able to do in three years.
“It was just a great season. I’m looking forward to next year. Everything that my team accomplished this year just proved how hard we worked and how much we grew. I think next year will be great. High expectations for next year.”
