COLLINSVILLE CARDINALS
Coach: JENNIFER CHRISTIAN
12-24
OUTLOOK
First-year Collinsville head coach is confident the Cardinals will be competitive this year.
“I feel really good coming in as the new head coach. “We’ve got some new people playing in some new positions, so that’s going to change things just a little bit, but they’re a very athletic group of young ladies and eager to be successful, so I think as the year and season progresses, they’re just going to get better and better every time we play,” Christian said. “We want to have a winning record. We want to be competitive in all aspects of our program and just really make a name for ourselves where people remember, ‘Yeah, that was Collinsville we played. We’d rather not play them again.”
Alexis Queen (MH, Sr.) will lead the way for the Cardinals after making First Team All-Metro Lakes Conference as a junior.
“She’s just a force to be reckoned with,” Christian said. “She’s a leader on the team, she’s a dynamic player and she just gives everybody a boost that they need. When things get hard, she’s the one we go to.”
Collinsville’s junior class is one of the best that has come through the program in recent memory. Ellah Burton (S, Jr.) has tremendous potential.
“She was our only setter last year. We played the 5-1 with her. She is absolutely just dominant. She has soft hands. A wonderful setter. I look forward to great things coming from her,” Christian said. “Our juniors are just a solid class all the way around. Our two outside hitters are juniors, Jenna Christian, and Anna Appelberg, and they’re just going to give us a little push that we absolutely need. All of our passers are juniors. Our Libero is a junior. We do have a senior passer that kind of flows in there, but overall, our junior class is just strong all the way around.”
Christian looks to several underclassmen to step up this year, including Lillie Stubbings (Libero, So.).
“She is just doing an amazing job. She’s had to transition from starting out as a hitter when she first played to now playing the Libero position, and she is hitting that challenge face-on. She’s definitely one to watch,” Christian said. “I also have a sophomore setter, Hailee Hickey, that’s coming up the pike that’s just going to be amazing in that process, as well, so looking forward to the future as well.”
Ella Armstrong (LH, So.) is “one to watch,” Christian said. “She is a left-handed hitter that is a dominant force.”
