Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Last year, Kirt McCracken came to Nederland High School to lead the boys’ basketball team. After a tumultuous season of players coming and going, the team settled down. When Shelby Nation announced that she would be unable to coach the girls’ volleyball team, the administration looked inside the school for a coach and hired McCracken, who is pleased to be taking over the girls’ team.

The girls have been building a team for the past couple of years and this season, fans will see the result of hard work and patience that have gone into the new Panthers volleyball program.

“We are very excited about the coming year,” says McCracken. “We have five starters returning, Breegan McClish, Hattie Bakke, Karen Sorokach, Lily Lindstrom and Sofie Anderson who are joined by two additional seniors, Linnaea Thibedeau and Mazie Pancoast, so we are very experienced. We have a total of eleven returning players joined by seven freshmen, so the program is in great shape.”

So far, the practices have been energetic and fun. This is McCracken’s first year coaching volleyball, and he is not sure what the competition looks like, but he says the girls are athletic, they have some height in the middle and should be entertaining this year.

“Please come out and support your girls.”