Caffery sets tone for Northwest volleyball

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest Missouri State celebrates around Kasidy Mohwinkle (10) and Ella Caffery (9) last season during an MIAA Tournament win over Washburn in St. Joseph.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Its a changing of the guard this season for Northwest Missouri State volleyball with rotation staples Abby Brunssen, Payton Kirchhoefer, Olivia Dir, Kyah Luhring, Kristen Ford, Avery Kemp and Natalie Laiolo all exhausting their eligibility.

Northwest is carrying a streak of 9-straight seasons with a winning record. The Bearcats were 16-12 last year and 9-7 in the MIAA.

“It is always fun,” coach Amy Woerth said. “As I said in my huddle, they brought the energy. That was them — it wasn’t me pushing them, it wasn’t Nick or any of our coaching staff pushing them, it was them. I think they are ready to get after it.

“A lot of new and a lot of teaching, and that is not a bad thing.”

The Bearcats will have a new group taking the floor this season, but if you are going to have a new group, you want your most experienced player to be the one running the show and that is what Northwest has with third-year starting setter Ella Caffery.

“She knows what I want and we’ve learned a lot about each other,” Woerth said. “That is the biggest piece — our relationship is really strong. Whenever the coach and the setter running the offense have that good relationship, I think that the sky is the limit with what can happen for our offense.”

Just two years into her Bearcat playing career, Caffery is on pace to finish in the top-5 all-time of all-time assists at Northwest. And this year, the junior will have a largely new group of hitters to work with.

“It has been good,” Caffery said. “Just getting all of our freshmen, because we have six of them, acclimated to our culture. It has been good to have a few voices from upperclassmen to lead them through that.

“… I feel like my hitters trust me and I trust them. We are able to talk through things a lot. I’ve been here for four years so I know all the systems at this point, it just about being more consistent in all of my sets.”

One of those hitters who returns is senior right-side hitter Kasidy Mohwinkle. Mohwinkle stepped up last season after just 65 kills her sophomore year and finished third on the team with 260 kills — the most of a returning player.

“Year 4 is great,” Mohwinkle said. “I’m really excited to be here with a bunch of new faces and just have this new team work together towards one common goal.”

Mohwinkle and Caffery had the opportunity to grow their connection in the offseason when they along with Woerth represented the United States on the USA Division-II Volleyball Tour in Brazil.

“It was an awesome experience to get to go to Brazil,” Caffery said. “It was a once in a lifetime deal. It was awesome to get to go with Kas be cause obviously we got to play together all of last year. Being able to go with someone that you already have a good connection with makes coming into a new season (easier). I just feel really confident about our connection.”

Both players enjoyed the opportunity to play on another continent as well as host camps in the South American country.

“It was a great experience going down to Brazil with Amy and Ella,” Mohwinkle said. “That only furthered our connection. We got to learn more from Amy, and Ella and I got to further our connection as a setter-hitter duo. It was just a great experience.”

Northwest replaces its two top middle hitters from the last several years with Brunssen and Kemp, but returns senior Kate Frakes who saw significant team last season with Kemp injured and finished with 103 kills and 43 blocks as a junior.

Reinforcements are coming to the middle in the form of junior Gabrielle Gartner. She played the right side the last two years, but with Mohwinkle’s emergence and the need in the middle, she will likely shift inside this season.

At outside hitter, the Bearcats were hit with another spot where the full rotation is gone in the form of Dir and Kirchhoefer, but the young players that Woerth has brought in are bringing energy. Junior Maja Noehrer is the most experienced player in the spot with 65 kills last season.

Sophomores Ella Gunderson and Abby Bulthuis, and junior Sophia Gartner all saw the court last season, but will be competing for bigger roles this year.

“We have some new freshmen who have come in and are very talented,” Woerth said. “How quick can they learn? How quick can they put it together? That patience needs to be there as a coaching staff. But super excited about where we are from a talent perspective.”

The back row lost Ford and Luhring as mainstays, but Woerth is excited for senior Karsen VanScoy to get her first real opportunity to seize the libero role after waiting three years behind Luhring and Ford. VanScoy had 103 digs last season.

“This is her time to shine,” Woerth said. “From that piece, I’m excited to see what she can do as libero.”

There is another familiar name in the back row rotation as well with sophomore Ellery Luhring, Kyah’s younger sister. Luhring had 80 digs as a true freshman.

With six true freshmen in the gym to begin fall camp, the veterans have said that the energy level has been impressive and they hope to maintain that.

“It is a hard transition from high school to college, but these six freshmen that we have are eager to learn and they are giving it everything they’ve got,” Mohwinkle said. “It is great to have six new faces come in and push us and challenge us. They are just great to work with.”

The Bearcats open the season at the Fort Hays State Tournament on Sept. 5 and Sept. 6 where they will play Arkansas Tech, Rockhurst and Cameron with all the matches being on the MIAA Network. After 11 road games to open the season, the Bearcats’ home opener is set for Oct. 3 against Fort Hays State.

“Lots of new faces — just figuring our who is going to be the best six or seven to put out on the court and can win games for us,” Caffery said.