Plum volleyball to navigate new section with sophomore-laden lineup

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 7, 2018 | 7:27 PM

With six key players gone to graduation and a move to a section consisting of mostly new opponents, the Plum girls volleyball team is basically starting fresh this fall.

Gone are Sofia Chapkis, Bailey Raposa, Brianna Bialota, Laney Kiefer, Haley Chiusano and Madison Schullo, a core that led Plum to a second consecutive playoff appearance last year where they lost to Baldwin in the first round.

The Mustangs will be a sophomore-laden team this fall, but they do have four seniors returning, including captains Miranda Depkon and Alexa Waros, and they plan to use the advice given to them by their predecessors to help lead their younger teammates.

“The six seniors we had last year showed us pretty well how to lead a team,” Depkon said. “Last year, they taught us very well how to bring everyone together as a team and to stay united as one.

“These girls look up to Alexa and me. We’re really young this year, but I’m very close with a lot of the girls. My sister (Brooke) is a sophomore on the team. I see them a lot around school and they’ll ask questions. I try to do my best to help them as much as I can with anything that they need.”

Aside from losing the six starters from last year, Plum also lost a projected starter in Khyliah Horne, who moved to North Carolina.

Plum has five new section opponents, including Norwin, which it lost to 3-0 in the season opener last Tuesday.

Depkon is an outside hitter, Waros is a setter and fellow senior Sam Casile is a middle hitter. The rest of the lineup will consist mainly of sophomores, including middle hitter Makayla Jackson.

Plum coach Kelsey Bonk said Depkon and Jackson will play every spot in the rotation and they’ll be the core of the offense.

The Mustangs have worked on growing together on the floor and getting ready for the speed of play with many of them seeing varsity action for the first time.

“We’re just trying to get everyone caught up going into not only varsity, but Quad-A varsity, which is just a whole other level of play,” Bonk said. “I have a ton of young girls on the floor, and we need to play as smart as we can. We’re not going to be biggest, strongest or the most experienced, but we need to come in each night and continue to get better, especially with a younger group. If we can continue to see progress, then that is success in itself.”

Plum placed third in Section 3-AAAA last season and is in Section 3 again this year, but realignment has altered its opponents greatly.

Former section mates Armstrong, Kiski Area and Woodland Hills dropped down to Class AAA, while Oakland Catholic and Fox Chapel were assigned to different sections in Quad-A, leaving Penn Hills as the only team remaining from last season.

Norwin, Hempfield, Connellsville, Latrobe and Penn-Trafford are the other teams in Section 3, and all of those teams played together in a section last year.

Hempfield was the most successful of the group in the postseason last year, reaching the quarterfinals, but Penn-Trafford and Norwin split the section title.

Bonk expects a tough match every night the Mustangs take the floor.

“There’s really not a good section to be in for Quad-A, especially since so many teams dropped down to Triple-A, but our section is so good from top to bottom,” Bonk said. “There’s really not one team, where I’m thinking ‘I can’t wait to see them. That will be fun.’ They’re all really good teams.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

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