Henry-Senachwine volleyball looks to finish strong

Last fall, the Henry-Senachwine volleyball team played in several tournament championship matches, including the Tri-County Conference Tournament final and the Class 1A Henry-Senachwine Regional final.

But the Mallards didn’t bring home any hardware.

This season, Henry hopes to change that.

“Last year we were in a lot of championship games that we didn’t finish,” Henry coach Rita Self said. “That was our focus at the beginning of the year. We want to be in those games again, and we want to finish them and be on top. We were in the conference championship and didn’t finish, and we were in the regional championship and didn’t finish.

“We definitely want to finish those games and finish strong as a team.”

The Mallards have certainly started strong. Henry is 19-4 overall and 5-1 in the Tri-County Conference.

“We’ve played together our whole lives for every single sport,” Henry senior middle hitter Kaitlyn Anderson said when asked why the Mallards are a strong team. “We have a really close bond on and off the court. We practice hard all summer and all year, so we were really ready for the season to go well.”

Anderson said she and her teammates play multiple sports together, spend time together in classes and hang out outside of school, which translates to chemistry on the court.

“We just know how to pick each other up,” Anderson said. “We know what we need to do for our teammates. We know how to give tough love. It’s just easy to play with them, because everybody knows what everybody needs.”

On the court, the Mallards have a deep front row – even with junior middle Ali Mitchell missing time because of injury – with five players averaging 1.6 kills per set or more.

Harper Schrock leads the team at 3.3 kills per set, followed by Kaitlyn Anderson (2.6), Brynna Anderson (2.0) and Brooklynn Thompson (1.6).

“It’s really good,” Schrock said about having hitting depth. “All six of our hitters, even our setter, can hit. Most teams only have two or three hitters. We don’t have a weak front-row player at all.”

Three-year starter Lauren Harbison directs the offense as the team’s setter. After playing libero on varsity as a freshman, Harbison was a setter in a 6-2 rotation with Kaitlyn Anderson when they were sophomores, and Harbison has been running a 5-1 the past two seasons.

Harbison is averaging eight assists per set.

“She’s quick, she has great hands and good court awareness,” Self said. “She’s definitely valuable for our team as a setter. She’s run a 5-1 the last two years, and I feel like it’s a good fit for her.”

With good chemistry, a solid group of hitters and a veteran setter, the Mallards – who went 22-16 last season – are one victory away from the third 20-win season in school history and just five wins shy of breaking the school record for wins in a season set by the 1977 team that went 23-1 and qualified for state.

“It would be really great,” Schrock said of setting a program wins record. “Last year we were so close to getting it, so this year that’s been one of our goals since the beginning to set a new record for our school. Having that would mean a lot to us and our school.”

Henry earned the No. 2 seed for the Tri-County Tournament behind Seneca, which beat the Mallards 25-23, 25-23 in the second match of the season.

The Mallards have the second most wins in their Class 1A subsectional behind Wethersfield (20-5).

“We want to win the Tri-County and do really well in the postseason,” Kaitlyn Anderson said. “We haven’t done well in the postseason in the past, but I really think we have it in us to do well this year.”