By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Yukon will get an early start to the volleyball season as the Millerettes open pre-season workouts.
YHS will begin the season at 12:01 a.m. with their annual lock-in and will begin their two-a-day practices on Tuesday.
The first workout is a team building process, followed by a practice at midnight, then another team building event and spend the night in the gym.
“The girls like it,” Millerette head coach Rachell Allred said. “Some of them stay up all night, but most of them don’t make it and are all asleep about 5 a.m.
“We come back on Tuesday with the freshman working out first, then the varsity and follow that up with all the teams working out together in the afternoon she said. “
The freshmen start at 7:30, the high school at 9 and both groups finish the day with an one and a half workout beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Allred returns five players with starting experience from last year’s teams who had the best season for volleyball since the program was started.
The Millerettes return two outside hitters and rightside hitter along with two back row players. Allred is looking for someone to step into the setter and the libero role.
The team finished this past week with a team camp for both the high school and freshmen teams.
“We are looking good so far, but we are still missing a lot of people right now,” Allred said. “We probably have 10 that are out of town. We have two trying out at camp and we will have plenty to look at this week once we have everyone there.
“We lost 10 seniors from last year, so we lots of new things and will have to move some people around,” she said. “We have our five returners and we will see if we are going to try some different things with them. We have a lot of JV kids that are coming up and playing varsity for the first time.”
The Millerettes return three hitters in Addison Wimmer, Brianna Worth and Rachel Kittle. Worth and Kittle will play the outside hitting roles and Wimmer will be back on the right side this year.
YHS also returns Bailey Teel and Gabby Mobarak to the back line. The Millerettes have seven seniors and will rely on younger players to step up and battle for spots in the rotation.
The key for Allred will be replacing a setter and the libero position.
Hattie Hughes, Kassley Bo and Hayley Kusick at setters.
“That was the biggest loss from last year,” Allred said. “We have lost our setter each of the last two years, but we have three girls that are working hard for that spot, so we will have some options there.
“Our middle will be an open spot and we have some players fighting for that,” Allred said. “The camp we had this past week has helped and once we get everyone back, we can see what parts we need to fit the best.”
The Millerettes will host their first pre-season test, a scrimmage on Aug 1, that will include 12 teams. The scrimmage will be a varsity, junior varsity and freshman scrimmage.
Enid, Piedmont, Putnam City, Lawton, Southwest Covenant and others. The scrimmage will start at 9 a.m.
The second scrimmage date is set Aug. 8 at Mustang. The Millerettes open the season with the Oklahoma City Storm hosting the Oklahoma City Storm and start Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference play on Aug. 13.
“With the little bit I have seen with the people we have here, while it ai a rebuilding year, we have great leadership,” Allred said. “We have those five returners that are strong, we have girls that started and had lots of playing time on the JV that are ready to move up and everyone is excited for the opportunity.
“They see those 10 spots and they know they are going to have to work hard for them,” she said. ‘They are excited to get to play with those returning starters, because the leadership and the skills are there.”
