Q and A with Avoli Committed Stock Up Showcase Athlete

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lexington Catholic junior all-around [player_tooltip player_id='768460' first='Madeline' last='Sisk'] came to the Stock Up Showcase in Wilder showing a lot of grit and determination on the court. She showed outstanding leadership on the court even when not participating in drills. She set a good example for her sister Lyla, who will be a freshman defensive specialist at LexCath this fall and the other players. That will be a huge key for LexCath's transition to first-year head coach Lane Jenkins. She brings back a year of varsity experience to be paired up with two solid seniors in setter [player_tooltip player_id='603863' first='Charlotte' last='Hall'] and middle blocker [player_tooltip player_id='535172' first='Miller' last='Duncan']. Therefore, she won the Avoli Committed Athlete honors.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>LexCath finished 33-5 last year finishing with the deepest postseason run in program history and graduated six seniors on that team. The Knights repeated as 11th Region champions then knocked off Scott then Ashland for the first two wins in program history. They lost to state power Assumption in the state semifinals, but have taken huge strides these past two season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Making Sure Others Improve</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"They're really great and I think it really helps because Lane, our new coach was really known with the people that are new. So it helps bring a sense of comfort. At Catholic, we have a really good sense of friendship and our team is really close, so I feel that really helps because everyone is really good friends. That especially helps those that came from JV up to varsity keep their skills up. I also feel that it helps that we still have some dominant people from last year back. I'm excited because last year, I was new to varsity. But I'm excited to be doing outside like I did for club."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Communication on the court</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I know that communication helps a lot throughout the court so I just want to help everybody stay together."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Overcoming adversity</strong> <strong>with Hall and Miller's help</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>'They're good leaders, too. I think that it helps that they've been here for a lot of years. They were leaders last year on the court, too, so it's not really as much of a change even though we (graduated) Payton (Avilez) and Ella (Blackburn). We talk a lot at Catholic at practice about how no matter what age you are, everybody should be a leader no matter what position, what you're doing so I think that really helps everyone do her best."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>LexCath surprising people</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I feel that it'll surprise people that a lot of them are from younger ages because I feel like in the past, we've had a lot of older people. But now, our team is lot younger with incoming freshmen and sophomores. So I feel think it'll surpise people that they won't really know who's coming up because they're really good."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Personal Improvement in club season</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I feel like this past club season, I was all six rotations, so I think that really helped as far as stepping up my defense."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='603863' first='Charlotte' last='Hall']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Charlotte is really good at working with out of system balls so because I feel that a lot of the game is out of system. I feel that she's good at putting the ball to all the hitters no matter what with her passing."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Positioning behind blockers</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I feel like we work a lot on blocking at Catholic. We just really work at everything. Everything is important no matter what you're doing."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Same club, high school teammates</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I feel like everyone has a sense of connection through the season. We don't have to restart and learn everybody. It really comes together those first few practices, which helps us get ahead of other schools who have a bunch of new people or who haven't played together in a while, so then they have to relearn their connections. All of our connections are still together."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Plsyinh in 43rd Disrict</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"No matter where we are and no matter what practice we're in the season, we're always preparing for big games, especially after last year making a run at state. We know a lot of people want to beat us because they think we're not going to be as strong with the loss of the seniors. It helps that we have goals at each practice because we know we have good teams coming for us."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Facing Assumption</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"They ran their offense really fast. They have a lot of good hitters like [player_tooltip player_id='611724' first='Brooke' last='Codey']. There are teams we'll play that have one or two big hitters that you want to shut down. But I feel like Assumption and Notre Dame will see all their hitters putting balls away. Assumption showed us there are stronger teams out there and we just have to keep working. We just have to keep the pace up, even against the slower teams."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["768460"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6a5e8031c4cbe"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Sisk (pictured) primarily played opposite hitter last year, but is looking to make an impact at all six spots on the court this year after making major strides there in the spring. Her communication has greatly improved in the last year, especially after playing with great leaders for the Knights last season. Sisk makes outstanding defense to offense transitions and takes solid four to four zone cut shots and crosses. Sisk used her sound range to track down a number of balls under control throughout the event.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Note from Writer</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mike Graham has been writing for Prep Dig for two years and has enjoyed getting to know the volleyball scenes in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. If you liked the story, please copy and paste to X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. You may also follow us at @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prepdigkentucky/#">prepdigkentucky</a>, @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prepdigtennessee/#">prepdigtennessee</a>&nbsp;or @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prepdigoh/#">prepdigoh</a>&nbsp;on Instagram in addition to @PrepDigKy, @PrepDigTN or @PrepDigOH on X. If you feel someone in Kentucky, Tennessee or Ohio needs coverage or even have feedback on the Kentucky or Tennessee rankings, please email Mike at michaelgraham@prepdig.com. You may also follow him on X @GMCgrah or Instagram @g.michaelgraham. Subscriptions give you access to exclusive content. For a 30% discount on yearly subscriptions, enter code graham30 at checkout.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->