Lakewood Ranch volleyball hopes to rebound from 2016 season

Perri Hankins is not ready to talk about the 2016 season.

She admits as much. The Lakewood Ranch volleyball coach shifts in her chair at the mere mention of her team’s last season, when the Mustangs went 4-19. Hankins would later soften her stance, but the pain in her voice while discussing it is evident. It was such an anomaly in Hankins’ tenure at the school that she wants to forget it, as quickly as possible, even saying there was nothing to be gleaned from her or her players reflecting on it.

Before last season, Lakewood Ranch was the area powerhouse. Hankins, the winningest coach in the University of South Florida’s history (189-72), took the Mustangs job prior to the 2011 season and won immediately, capturing four-straight district titles and reaching the state semifinals in two of those seasons. Those were the only trips to the final four in program history.

In 2015, the Mustangs didn’t see a district title, but the team was still competitive, going 10-10 and finishing third in the district. It was last season that things fell apart, and the program finished 4-19. Then-senior Kahlee York, now playing beach volleyball at Louisiana State University, missed the season with an ACL injury in her left knee, but Hankins said the injury wasn’t the reason for the team’s backslide.

“It wasn’t about a player,” Hankins said. “We had a down year. That’s not unusual for most programs. It is unusual for us because we were able to be strong so quickly and then stay strong. Now, we’re going to move past that.  

Hankins added said the 2016 squad had some “bad examples” who are now gone. Hankins said the players who remain, plus a few newcomers, truly care about Lakewood Ranch doing well. The are willing to put in work to improve as a team. Hankins hates losing, but she hopes her current team learned how to be a winning team by going through the experience. Hankins’ said her players this season are volleyball people,” like her. 

“We now have kids who are committed to the program and committed to each other," Hankins said. "We have a competitive culture in the gym, and man, we are close.

"We always will be a better team when we on the same page. We’re going to do things the right way.”

Junior Maddie Koczersut said about a month ago, the team gathered at junior captain Jordan Schmucker’s house for dinner, and afterward played a rousing game of around-the-world ping pong. It’s a game that requires trust in each other, and that trust carries onto the court. All the varsity team members worked a volleyball camp at the school in July, where the bond grew. It was at the camp where the players collectively decided on their 2017 slogan, which was then printed on T-shirts: “Pass the expectations. Set the standards. Kill the competition.”

This year’s Mustangs won both their preseason games, against East Bay in three sets and Tampa Riverview in four sets, and readied for an opening-night showdown against Sarasota Riverview on Aug. 24. The Rams went 25-3 last season, made the state semifinals and return sophomore MaxPreps All-American outside hitter Riah Walker. The Mustangs took the first two sets from them, though, and came close to a straight-set win before Riverview rallied and staved off elimination, taking the third set 25-22. They would win the final two sets and take the match.

After all that, Hankins still doesn’t know how good her team can be. They pushed a state semifinalist to its limit, and that was with Schmucker at less than 100%. She had left school early that day feeling sick, but made sure to stay longer enough to remain eligible for the game. During timeouts in the final three sets, she had to sit in the huddle and take breaths from an inhaler. Hankins has never had a player do that before, she said. To combat this, Hankins rotated Schmucker away from her strongest position, setter, on multiple occasions to keep her as fresh as possible.

As odd as it sounds, the team was exuberant afterwards, giving loud cheers in the postgame huddle. Senior Anna Shelby Dees said it gives the team confidence in its abilities going forward.

“Just to get sets on them was really good,” Dees said, laughing. “We were really proud of ourselves for that.

This team, we're almost to the point where we're sisters. We hang out with each other six days a week. We love each other. There's no drama within our team.”

If the Mustangs hope to return to the heights of past teams — and Hankins called being in contention for the district title a realistic goal — that chemistry will be the key.