Comets leaning on pair

By Joe Warren

Herald-Tribune

NEVADA, Mo. -- The Cottey Comets have only two returners from last season's volleyball team but they're not your everyday sophomores.

The pair coming back for the 2006 season happen to be All-Region-type players.

Lindsay Rader and Hristina Denic both played at a high enough level as freshmen that they received postseason accolades.

Rader, from Prescott, Ariz., was arguably Cottey's most consistent player in 2005, and she earned first-team All-Region 16 honors in NJCAA Division II.

Denic, a second team selection last season from Nis, Siberia, teams with Rader this year as the experience base for a young team.

Mary Cunningham is another sophomore who didn't play in 2005, so she is still a freshman eligibility-wise.

There are also a host of freshmen.

A pair of rookies from New Mexico appear to be making a bid for playing time in preseason workouts. Dominica Sena, from Santa Rosa, N.M., and Tara Cooper, from Estancia, N.M., were district rivals in high school who will team up to help the Comets this fall.

"They did not bring the rivalry to the court," head coach Marla Kannady said of the pair.

Sena will probably fill the roll of Libero, a defensive specialist.

Cooper is versatile and Kannady plans to use her all over the court.

Two other key newcomers appear to be Michelle Schulte, of Owensville, Mo. Schulte will be an outside hitter most likely for the Comets.

Vanessa McCoy, from right down the street in Liberal, Mo., looks to make some noise in the middle.

Another freshman who will try to contribute is Violet Chombwe, of Malawi, Africa.

Kannady said practices have been productive since most of the girls came into the preseason workouts already in decent shape.

Even so, the Comet newcomers were introduced to the infamous grueling three-a-days that Kannady is a big believer in.

While it might sound like a lot of strain physically, Kannady has had good success with it in recent years, avoiding injuries by imploring a 15-minute warmup routine that she picked up from KU.

The Comets will be battling traditional region power Longview for Region 16 supremacy.

Other region rivals include a pair of St. Louis Community College schools in Florissant Valley and Meramec.

A newcomer to the region is Northeast Oklahoma A&M, in Miami, Okla.

The NJCAA has done away with the regional tournaments in volleyball, so the five Region 16 teams will have to duke it out in the District tourney, which is scheduled to be hosted by Cottey College Nov. 3-4.

Cottey opens the season with a bulk of road matches, as they start at Allen County in Iola, Kan., Tuesday.

Their first home match is Sept. 19 against Stephens College.