New coach interested in building the Warriors volleyball team into a program.
From the outside, Worthington Christian’s Emma Steele winning the Central Buckeye League’s Defensive Player of the Year in volleyball last year seems like an anomaly. Often, a league’s player of the year honor is like a lifetime achievement award, reserved for a graduating senior from the conference-winning team.
That was not the case with Steele. The defensive specialist won it as a junior; her team finished fourth in the CBL with an 11-5 conference record. As Worthington Christian opens the season at Delaware Christian on Aug. 19, the senior wants to prove that capturing that award wasn’t a fluke.
“Winning that honor was something I had in my mind the entire time,” Steele said. “I’ve wanted that since my sophomore year. It’s something I’d like to have again. I’ve been working (on my defense in the off-season) with my club team, so I hope to earn it again.”
Worthington Christian might rely on Steele’s defense this season to improve on last year’s 14-10 finish overall. In the Division IV Central District 1 tournament last season, Worthington Christian gritted out a 25-17, 25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 15-8 win over River Valley in their tournament opener but then lost to Highland, an eventual district champion, 25-17, 25-14, 25-6 in the second round.
Steele is one of four returning players, joining senior Mackenzie Barnes (outside hitter) and juniors Anika Van Arendonk (outside hitter) and Katelin Kaiser (a middle hitter, who started last season on junior varsity but was moved up midseason after an injury to a varsity player). Barnes was an honorable mention all-conference selection last year.
First-year coach Liz Prentis, who coached the junior varsity team, anticipated having a more experienced team this season, but seven Warrior seniors decided not to return to the team.
“Having a core group of returning players is going to be helpful this season to lead some of the underclassmen, who haven’t had that (varsity) experience,” Prentis said. “Those returnees have good court awareness, which will be huge because that’s something you just learn with experience and time playing. Their volleyball IQ will be helpful as we incorporate younger players into the lineup.
“They’ve already consistently demonstrated great leadership throughout the summer practices. They’ve been a huge part of setting the tone of what we want Worthington Christian volleyball to look like.”
Prentis replaces former coach Lynn Hartings, who guided the Warriors to a district final appearance in 2022, the team’s first appearance in a district championship match since 2013.
Prentis, who played collegiately at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, coached at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy for two years before coming to Worthington Christian last year. Under Prentis, the junior varsity team started slowly last year, losing its first five matches, but closed out the year by winning 17 of its last 18 games to finish 17-6 overall. Sophomores Vienna Lee (setter/defensive specialist) and Kylie Maehl (defensive specialist) will be coming up from that junior varsity squad. Freshmen Maddie Kaiser (middle hitter) and Amira Van Arendonk (right side/outside hitter) should figure into the team’s roster.
The team will be challenged in the CBL. Last season, the Warriors finished fourth in the league behind champion Buckeye Valley (16-0), Columbus Academy (12-4), and Bishop Ready (12-4) and ahead of Bexley (8-8), Columbus School for Girls (7-9), Franklin Heights (4-12), Grandview (2-14) and Whitehall (0-16). The Barons finished 21-6 overall after losing to London 25-20, 25-16, 25-16 in the Division IV Central District 2 championship.
Prentis listed “strengthening the volleyball program as a whole” as one of her top priorities.
“Having a winning record and going further in the tournament would be tangible markers of a successful season, but winning isn’t our ultimate goal,” she said. “I want to see the program’s culture develop into one everyone buys into. They all want to be there, work hard, and show growth in their volleyball skills, spiritually and emotionally.”
“I think the biggest key to our season is going to be how we work together as a team because we have quite a few new people,” Steele added. “We’re building a whole new team around a handful of returning people, so figuring out how we can work together will be a factor in how well we do.”
Prentis said the team chose 2 Timothy 6:11 – “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” – as their theme for this season.
“We want to embody the theme of pursuit. Our ultimate goal is to pursue the Lord, but obviously, pursuit can apply to all different areas,” she said. “We want to pursue friendship with one another, playing aggressively and going after the ball. We want to pursue being a team that is competitive but also shows the love of Christ in all our interactions.
“We want to be the team that doesn’t give up on the ball, that fights back even when we lost the first set and plays the fifth set just as hard as we played the first set.”