By Steve Carpenter
Blue Dragon Sports Information Director

For as much as the Coronavirus pandemic has completely mangled normal life, there has been an unintended positive for new Hutchinson Community College volleyball coach Delice Downing.

Had the college volleyball season started on time, Downing would have had exactly 51 days from her date of hire to her first match. With the NJCAA pushing the start of the 2021 volleyball season back to late January because of the pandemic, Downing had a lot of extra prep time to get to know her new players and install her system. She has had a full semester plus the time since the players returned from the holiday break to prep for the opening of a new era in Blue Dragon Volleyball.

"These are unprecedented times right now," said Downing, whose team finally opens the season on Monday with a Jayhawk West match at Garden City. "So many things are going on in the world, then with Covid shutting everything down, it's been hard and it's been sad for many people.

"For Hutch Volleyball, it's been alright.

"We had an entire semester to get to know each other really well, an entire semester for the girls to buy in to what's being taught to them. A lot has changed. I didn't mind having a semester off to prepare this team as a new coach."

Downing was hired as the 13th head coach in Blue Dragon Volleyball history on July 2, 2020. She replaced Patrick Hall, who retired after eight seasons at Hutchinson.

Before coming to Hutchinson, Downing built a tremendous program at Coffeyville Community College.

Downing's all-time record in 15 seasons at Coffeyville was 432-175. She is the Red Ravens' all-time coaching wins' leader and ranks No. 3 in all-time Jayhawk Conference volleyball coaching wins and No. 5 in Region VI Volleyball history.

Over the last five seasons, Downing's teams posted a 197-22 record. Coffeyville won back-to-back NJCAA Division II national volleyball championships in 2017 and 2018 with a national third-place finish in 2019.

Downing takes over a Blue Dragon program – picked fourth in the preseason KJCCC coaches poll – that suffered only its third losing season since 1997 last year when Hutchinson posted a 14-19 record. Still, the 2019 Blue Dragons did advance to the Region VI Tournament semifinals for the 20th consecutive season and had two victories over NJCAA-ranked opponents.

Two players return from last season.

Jenna Thorne was a middle/right-side hitter last season. She averaged 1.81 kills and 0.76 blocks per set while hitting .255. Middle blocker Myracle Lettries averaged 0.85 kills and 0.83 blocks per set last season.

Downing added 10 freshmen and two transfers to the roster for 2021.

"This is the hardest-working team I have ever had and that includes the national championship teams I coached," Downing said. "We have talent, but the kids' work ethic is off the charts. We have a lot of girls willing to run through the wall if we need them to to make the play."

Wanting to install a 5-1 offensive system, Downing will depend on sophomore transfer setter Chloe Price, who spent her freshman season with Downing at Coffeyville. Running a 6-2 offense last season, Price averaged 5.01 assists. She also averaged 1.40 digs per set, 0.32 service aces per set and 0.13 kills per set while hitting .503. Price had four career double-doubles in her freshman season, including two in the national tournament.

"She is smart and never gets down," Downing said of Price. "She runs a great offense. The girls picked her as team captain. She is calm, cool and collected. She will do great things for us."

Freshman Kersti Nelson will also see time at setter this season.

Hutchinson's pin hitters will be inexperienced.

Downing is moving Thorne from a middle/right-side to the outside and she will likely become a six-rotation player. Downing said Thorne has a big swing and is working on different types of shots to continue her improvement. Freshman Shadee Briggs will be the second outside hitter. Freshmen Lauren Melendez and Kristina Head are also outside hitters, but downing is working on developing Head, who is 6-feet tall, into a middle as well.

The right side will be all true freshmen players in Kenna Lane, Taegen Larsen and Sequoia Fail. All three bring different facets to the position. Downing looks to improve the position that produced just 1.42 kills on .206 hitting with 0.69 blocks per set last season.

Lettries and freshman Shelby Murrell will be the primary middles this season with Head and Fail also getting time.

"I am very impressed with our middles are doing," Downing said. "We have changed a lot of stuff with the middles to get them quicker to the pins and get their hands high. We've got work to do, but I think our middles could become a very good group at the college level."

Freshman Shelby Reeder takes over as the Blue Dragon libero. Hutchinson high product Emily Dyer and Colby transfer Yuleishka Hernandez will be the defensive specialists.

"(Shelby) has stepped up. She's a complete leader on the court," Downing said. "Shelby has been our libero since Day 1. She has great ball control and is a great passer. She never stops talking on the court and I like that in a libero."

The methodical process to build this team that Downing was afforded because of the pandemic, has been a day-by-day process. But it's rare that a new coach in a program has such an opportunity, so she decided to take full advantage.

"We had to stop sometimes and re-teach some things to get the growth of the team started," Downing said. "Once we get the girls at the level we wanted to reach, the sky is the limit."

The Blue Dragons will open the 2021 home season on Thursday against Pratt before traveling to Cheyenne, Wyoming for the Laramie County Tournament. The Blue Dragons also play in the West Plains Invitational on February 5 and 6 and will play host to the Blue Dragon Classic on February 19-20. The Region VI Tournament will be the week of March 26 with the semifinals and championship match on March 29 at the site of the eventual Jayhawk West champion.