By Kyle LoJacono
The Freedom volleyball team made the playoffs for the first time in the school’s nine-year history last season, something the 2011 squad plans on making a trend.

The Patriots went 13-9 last year, reaching the regional quarterfinals as the Class 5A-District 9 runner-up. Freedom is not resting on the laurels of that playoff squad and is working harder to make it two in a row.
“There are some new things we started this year,” said Freedom coach Kerry Short. “We played in the HCC summer league this year, so we were touching a volleyball earlier in a tournament setting. We also started our conditioning program earlier. I had the girls hitting the weight room, doing jumping and agility drills, running the track and bleachers. That shows their dedication.”
The Patriots must overcome losing five seniors, four or which saw time at outside, right side and middle hitters. The Freedom frontline is also without outside hitter Ashley Wilson, who led the squad last year with 295 kills while adding 205 digs as a freshman, but decided to focus on softball.
“We did lose five seniors, so that is tough with just a few returners, but luckily my junior varsity kids progressed and filled in some of those spots,” Short said. “Really I think we’re ready to go. Having such a new squad is fun because they want to do what all those seniors did last year.”
Freedom does return sophomore setter Kelly Schaller, who had a team-high 82 aces and 645 assists last year while adding 97 digs, 39 kills and 18 blocks. Her work made Schaller a first team all-conference player, and also put her on the PrepVolleyball.com’s list of the top freshmen nationally.
“I was actually expecting to be an average team last year,” Schaller said. “I was a freshman and expected everyone else to be so much better than me. I knew Freedom wasn’t known for volleyball, so coming into it my eyes opened to what we could do.”

Short said having an experienced setter who is also a team leader will help the squad get over losing those six players.
“She has a certain presence on the court with how she carries herself,” Short said. “The confidence she has when she runs plays, you can just see the girls really look up to her and she’s able to read them. It’s quite nice to have someone like Kelly.
“Setter is like the quarterback of a volleyball team,” Short continued. “She was here all last year, so she already understands how we do things. Plus she’s such a good athlete, so she can set from anywhere on the court. Now we can call a lot of different plays, and that lets us use a lot of our hitters.”
One of those hitters who will benefit from Schaller’s assists is Jasmyn Perry. The junior played mainly outside while at Tampa Bay Tech last year, where she averaged two kills per set, but has moved to middle hitter with the Patriots.
“We have come together like we’ve played forever,” Perry said. “Playing with a setter who’s one of the best in the nation, that’s pretty special. … It’s a good experience for me to come to a team at a much higher level. They have experience winning and in the playoffs.”
Perry’s comments illustrate how far the team has come since Short took over the program four years ago. Before that, Freedom had a new coach every season, eliminating any chance to build momentum.
“To think that this school wasn’t thought of for its volleyball team is hard to believe,” Perry said. “They’re really good. Better than any team that I’ve played on and better than most I’ve played against.”
The Patriots will likely have a more difficult road toward the playoffs this year with their new district that includes Gaither, Wiregrass Ranch, Steinbrenner and Chamberlain. Steinbrenner won two district championships the last two years, while Gaither won a title in 2009.
“We definitely have a tougher schedule this season with the district change,” Short said. “We’ve added Steinbrenner and Wiregrass Ranch in the district, plus we play Plant. Playing these tougher opponents lets our players see how good they have to get to play with those talented teams and get beyond them.”
Freedom will play at home against rival Wharton on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
“That is always our most intense match of the year and the girls are really looking forward to it,” Short said. “We call it the battle on Bruce B. Downs.”
—All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
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