BLINN VOLLEYBALL BEGINS 2025 CAMPAIGN WITH NEW HEAD COACH, RELOADED ROSTER
The 20th-ranked Buccaneers reached the national tournament for a fifth consecutive season in 2024
A new era begins for Blinn College volleyball.
The 20th-ranked Buccaneers open their season against North Central Texas College at the Cisco/Ranger Tournament at 7 p.m. on Thursday and will take the court sporting some significant changes.
New head coach Gregg Whitis has taken the reins of the prestigious program. Joining him are first-year assistant coach Maddie VanDyke and a revamped roster of 22 players featuring 16 new freshmen and sophomores.
It all adds up to what should be an exciting 2025 campaign for a Blinn program looking to continue a lengthy run of strong seasons.
The Bucs enjoyed a successful 2024, which saw them post an impressive 38-4 record with a 14-0 mark in Region 14 play. Blinn won the Region 14 Tournament championship to secure a fifth consecutive trip to the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship tournament.
Widespread changes to the program have done little to alter the long-term goal.
“Our goal will continue to be to finish as one of the best teams in the region and to continue building on the successful standard set long before I arrived,” Whitis explained. “Do we have an idea of how we stack up nationally? Not yet, but our standard will be to work hard every day, play hard on the court, and to win more than we lose.”
Blinn’s roster includes six returning sophomores from 2024, including rotation regulars Leah Hoss (setter) and middle blockers Jana Cetkovic and Karolina Karabasz. Sophomore hitters Shiloh Jones, Chloe Cavalier, and Lillie Thibodeaux are also back.
Under Whitis, Blinn will transition into a 6-2 offense (six hitters and two setters) this season, meaning the Bucs will deploy three hitters at the net at all times. Armed with an array of capable hitters, Whitis said the idea behind the 6-2 will be to make his offense unpredictable and tough to defend. Hoss’ veteran leadership could be used to make the shift a smooth one after she led her team with 767 set assists last season.
In its lone scrimmage against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Blinn got its first live run using its new rotation and played a different lineup in each of the five sets.
“We set everybody, and everybody was getting an opportunity to show what they can do,” Hoss said. “We also have so much depth that we were able to take advantage of some pretty deep skill sets and give some of our players a rest without losing much on the court. As a player, you get pretty excited seeing that.”
Blinn’s expanded depth has provided more competition during practices and could alleviate the wear and tear of a front-loaded non-region slate. The Buccaneers’ new-look roster includes first-year transfers Olivia Stringer (outside hitter), Kaliko Schilling (outside hitter), and freshman Kassandra De La Garza (setter).
“Our A squad and B squads in terms of talent and skill are so close that it has made for some really good practices and intrasquad scrimmages,” Stringer said. “The hustle and grit all of our girls are bringing to the court is at a level I’ve honestly never seen before. We’re pushing each other and building a really strong team chemistry through some really good competition. It’s really making all of us better.”
Blinn’s large roster should also help it find an offensive groove following the graduation of hitter Kellen Dorotik (the program’s all-time leader in kills after registering 658 last season), and 2024 second-team All-America selection MaKenna Loo (481 kills as a freshman last season), who accepted a scholarship from NCAA Division II West Texas A&M University.
A large portion of Blinn’s defensive production, including 1,831 of its 2,139 digs, is also gone.
“We lost a big piece of our overall production, but that means we have a lot of opportunities to find new producers,” Whitis said. “We don’t know what we have yet, but that’s OK because we’re going to know soon, and the girls have an opportunity to go out and do some things. We need every player who is here.”
Following five matches during the three-day Cisco/Ranger Tournament, Blinn will play its home opener against Vernon College at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 26, before staying home to host the three-day, five-match Kruse Kickoff Classic beginning Thursday, Aug. 28.
Blinn’s Region 14 slate gets started on the road against 12th-ranked Navarro College at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8.
While Whitis has never coached in Region 14, he has coaching ties with numerous current and former coaches in the region – including coaches who were once players he coached against – and has been a member of NCAA coaching staffs that have recruited Region 14 players.
“There is a lot of coaching talent in our region and there are a lot of talented athletes in this region, especially out of the international talent pool,” Whitis said. “This region is full of tough kids who serve tough and have good arms, otherwise they wouldn’t have been recruited. What we know for sure is we’ll be challenged regularly, and I think we’ll be ready for that.”
Story courtesy of Blinn Information