Central Missouri Volleyball Excited for New Era

By David Boyce

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- When the Central Missouri volleyball team went through spring workouts, setter Caitlin Pankratz sensed a slightly strange atmosphere.

After 33 years as head coach, Peggy Martin was no longer on the sidelines, watching, teaching and guiding the Jennies.

"I think spring ball kind of got us a little bit used to it," said Pankratz, a fifth-year senior. "It's not a shock now.

"It was weird at first. ‘Where is she at? What is she doing?' It took us a while to adapt and figure out his style."

Central Missouri's new volleyball coach, Flip Pointek, has actually been a constant presence in the program as an assistant coach for 23 years under Martin.

So far, Pointek said, the transition has been smooth. Practices are not radically different.

The changes for Pointek were the decisions he had to make such as scheduling and other issues that a head coach signs off on.

"Before I was just doing specific things Peggy assigned me to do," Pointek said. "Over the course of the years we developed a pretty good relationship of what my roles were and what her roles were.

"I don't think the players had too much difference to adjust to. It was fairly easy for them. I felt like they know what we are trying to get done. We haven't played anybody yet. That will be the big thing. Until that happens I feel like it has been a relatively easy and smooth transition."

A couple things work in Pointek's favor in following a coaching legend. One, Martin left him a young, talented team and the one senior is the setter who learned plenty from Martin.

"I was with her for four years," Pankratz said. "She whipped me into shape."

Pointek said if he is only going to have one senior, he's glad she is a setter.

"In terms of what she's able to do, her leadership skills, she is more than just a setter, she's a team leader," Pointek said. "That is one thing that makes it easy for me."

Pankratz has the outgoing personality that younger players follow.

It would be easy for the freshmen, sophomores and juniors to accept that this is the year of transition and next year will be the time they dominate the MIAA.

But that's definitely not their mentality, and part of that is because of Pankratz. The Jennies are picked to finish third in the preseason coaches' poll. They want to exceed those expectations.

"We are young. We will still have more time in the future to play with each other, but for Caitlyn, it is her last season so we want to work hard for her and do well for her. It's her time," said sophomore Allie Huffman, a graduate of Lee's Summit West.

Huffman is one of the talented young players for the Jennies. She was selected MIAA freshmen of the year last season.

In all, Central Missouri has nine freshmen and sophomores. Pankratz understands all the younger players will be looking to her at how things are done.

Her duties will extend beyond the leadership she will provide on the court.

"I've been here for a long time so I know how coach likes to do stuff and how our program is run," Pankratz said. "Off the court I will try to keep everybody in line, like in the locker room and class stuff.

"I feel very comfortable in my role. I feel comfortable in my ability. I'm just looking forward to the new players coming in. We have some great returning players. I think we have an awesome chance of doing really well this year."

Bottom line: a new coach hasn't changed the excitement level or the expectations of the Jennies volleyball program.

"I'm very excited," Huffman said. "We lost a couple of girls who were key players, but we have a lot returning. I'm very excited to get to play with everybody again.

"It really wasn't that big of a change to go from Peggy to Flip."

When conference play begins the Jennies know they need to be ready no matter who is on the sideline coaching them.

"I can't imagine a better conference out there in Division II," Pankratz said. "We had five or six teams in the top 25 all last year, which made it difficult. Anybody could pop up.

"Nobody thought Emporia was going to be that great last year and they won the conference. So you never know."

The Jennies are determined not to allow a bunch of teams to move in front of them just because there is a coaching change. They won't use that excuse.

"He's always been around, and we know him very well," Pankratz said. "He's doing a really good job. We are all going to work hard and practice hard so it's not a huge difference, just a little different atmosphere."

Offensive player to watch: Sophomore hitter Allie Huffman led the Jennies in kills last season with 454. With a year of experience, Huffman should be even better this season.

Defensive player to watch: Junior libero Rachel Fister led Central Missouri in digs a year ago with 690. She earned first-team all-MIAA as a sophomore.

Key game: The Jennies play two-time defending Division II champion Concordia-St. Paul on Aug. 29 at the University of West Florida Invitational. Central Missouri will find out quickly how it compares to one of the best programs in the country.

On Tuesday: Missouri Southern football preview.