With its impressive history and tournament success, No. 18 Warsaw leads area volleyball teams, but the second tier, led by 1995 Mishawaka Regional finalist Wawasee, is not far behind.

Here is a look at the area volleyball teams, three of which are under the direction of new coaches.

Warsaw

Under the direction of new coach Jamie Byron, the Tigers have a strong nucleus of players back to continue their recent success.

Hitters Sarah Calhoun, Ann Fribley and Lisa Estep will be the firepower for the Tiger offense. Melissa Bolles, who stepped in for Sherry Haines last year, returns at setter.

Also back for the Tigers, 28-9 last year, are middle blocker Katie Clemens, who was injured in a car wreck in February, Sheila Whitaker and Jahna Swanson.

Adding depth will be Sam Wideman, a move-in from Tippecanoe Valley; Alyssa Raphael, Shanna Smith and Nancy Mason.

Wawasee

At Syracuse, coming off a 29-8, regional runners-up season, the Warriors must replace some key hitters from last year as well as adjust to a new coach as Jason Fleming takes over for Joy Swartzentruber this year.

"Coming in behind Joy, the girls were well prepared for what I had to offer them," Fleming said.

Fleming comes in with a little more intense style, but with the same goals as last year.

"They had a successful season last year, I set my goals to win the sectional and finish well in the conference," Fleming said. "I am trying to pick up this year where the girls left off last year. Hopefully we can excel past last year."

The Warriors lost four key seniors from last year's team, but will have plenty of experience coming back with eight seniors.

The power game for Wawasee was lost, and Theresa Lundin will be counted on heavily to provide the punch this year.

"This year a lot of our power will come from Theresa Lundin," Fleming said. "We lost a lot of our offense."

Also back for Wawasee will be setters Kara Matthew and Kendra Damer as well as middle blockers Lydia Carpenter and Karia McLaughlin.

"I am a fundamental coach when it comes to position," Fleming said. "I want them to have a good fundamental case before we start working into a lot of the complicated offenses."

Whitko

At South Whitley, another program that was hit hard by graduation was the Wildcats, who lost several players off of last year's 21-13 squad.

Whitko does have five returning letterwinners, with all but one having limited playing time last year.

"When you look at the returning letterwinners, it is a bit deceiving because we lost six seniors, and they played a majority of the time," Whitko coach Dave McCracken said. "As far as experience, we only have one kid that has a ton of it and that is Brigitte Goble. The rest of the kids played different roles on the team and didn't get a lot of playing time."

Also back for Whitko will be BrieAnn Starkweather, Kelly Osborn, Brittani Waybright, and Tisha Shepherd.

Newcomers to the varsity squad this year include: Kayce Moore, Amber Landis, Jamie Brown, Shanna Miner and Trisha Peters.

"The first couple of games will be a little frightening for some of the kids who don't have a lot of experience, but it will also teach them a lot about things," McCracken said. "They have a lot a great deal of skill, it is just a matter of them getting their feet wet and playing."

Triton

Triton coach Gayle Perry learned two things from last year's losing record, her first in six years, that she doesn't like it, and that it probably won't happen this year.

With 10 letterwinners coming back, Perry hopes the memories of last year's 11-18 record are far gone.

"We have some high expectations for this season," Perry said. "I think we will be pretty sharp.

"We are looking to be improved over last year," she said. "We had our first losing season in about six years, and we hope to rebound from that."

Perry could see the improvement at the end of last year and is hoping to continue that into this year.

"I thought during the end of last season, we had learned a lot and our played had improved," she said. "We lost a lot of three-game matches last year. We were very competitive. The kids have put in a lot of work this summer.

"We are looking much improved," she said. "We have decided that we are going to pick up right where we left off."

Triton has back this year: Audra Meinert, Diane Hatch, Holly Hepler, Amy Peterson and Teri Hackett, who is returning from a knee injury early last year; and juniors Jennifer Wissert, Megan Sarber, Jessica Kintzel and Chris Scott; and sophomore Heather Barron, setter.

Tippecanoe Valley

The Vikings will also have places to fill from last year, but not exactly from the same reason as some of the other area teams.

Four starters will be gone from last year's 5-15 squad, but only graduated. Two are going to different schools and one decided not to go out for the team this year.

"Our players will be a pretty young group on the floor," first-year coach Jon Parker said. "Right now, we are just trying to get as much playing time as we can. We want to try to jell together. Getting experience is the big thing."

Returners for Valley include Deb Burch, a three-year starter as setter. Rounding out the varsity roster are Emily Cripe, Johnna Phillips, Andria Parker, Brandi Fisher, Brandy Manns, Amy Nellans, Jenny Sanders, Rhonda Doud, and Brooke Fisher.

Manchester

NORTH MANCHESTER - Squire coach Bruce Bradley is counting on some veteran leaders to help lead Manchester to bettering last year's 11-16 mark.

Four seniors and three juniors return from last year.

"Three of them (seniors) have been playing since they were sophomores," Bradley said. "And the juniors played last year."

Veteran Squires include: setter Erin Groombridge, back row Katie Zile, outside hitter Carrie Rodriguzez, outside hitter - Tracy Hart, middle hitter Jodie Peden, outside hitter Amanda White, and back row Natalie Stambaugh.

"We would like to compete for the TRC," Bradley said. "And we would like to improve until we get to the sectional, and hopefully we can be at our peak by the time we get there.

"We have to pass the ball," he said. "Right now, that is one of our weaknesses. If we can do that, we should get to where we want to go." [[In-content Ad]]