By Jason McDaniel
Chronicle correspondent

Ashley Earhart is preparing for her fifth season as the volleyball coach at Kingwood, but it’s not getting any easier.

The expectations are always high for the Lady Mustangs, and that goes double for Earhart, who graduated from Kingwood in 1995 after her own successful stint as a player there — including a trip to state.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Earhart said. “Getting to come back to Kingwood feels like home obviously. I have great administration at Kingwood High School, and to know you’re backed by them is great.

“It’s a great community, very supportive, but there are also a lot of expectations when you coach at Kingwood, and that makes it even better.”

Earhart’s expectation is to lead her team to Austin, something she hasn’t done as a coach. Kingwood went 33-9 last season, 12-0 in district and won its fourth consecutive district title, but that’s not enough.

That’s why she couldn’t be happier about moving from the old District 19-5A, which included the Aldine ISD schools and Humble, to the new 14-5A, which boasts Conroe ISD teams and Lufkin.

“I’m very excited just because of the everyday challenges that it’s going to present for us,” Earhart said.

Last season, the Lady Mustangs didn’t lose a regular-season match after Sept. 5, and won every match the rest of that month and October 3-0, and Earhart is expecting a stiffer challenge this year.
She doesn’t even mind if her club’s streak of district championships, which dates to 1991, is snapped — as long as they’re prepared for a deeper postseason push.

“I’m confident in our kids that we’ll be contenders for the district title but really just those competitive matches night after night are going to help our team,” Earhart said.

Last season’s team got by on hard work, competitiveness and a business-like approach, and Earhart hopes that carries over to this team, which will be without six key players who graduated.

OH Danielle Espejo, S Brooke Towne, RS Andrea Taut, MB Rachel Towers (San Jacinto College) and MB Melanie Mirande (Colorado School of Mines) all are gone, leaving big holes to fill.

Libero Jacqui Gradowitz is the only starter back. Earhart has seven other players returning, including middle blockers Lizzie Harris and Sara Manifould, but Gradowitz will have to set the tone.
“She’s a beast on the court,” Earhart said. “She works real hard. She just has an instinct on defense that a lot of kids don’t have.”

Harris and Manifould saw time in the middle last year, but they split the few minutes that were available.

Earhart says they worked hard in the offseason to make sure both had starting roles in the fall.

Junior S Kathryn Copeland, who played on varsity toward the end of last season, is likely to start this year, and Devon Verellen and Haley Higgins, backup OHs last year, will contend for starting jobs.

Earhart also is excited to see what juniors RS Alyssa Scherr and OH Meredith Rankin do once fall practice begins. Along with Copeland, they spent last week in Reno, Nev., at the Junior Olympics.

“They had a fantastic JV season and I can see them coming in and really pushing for playing time,” Earhart said. “They’re both powerful hitters and very competitive kids.”

The Mustangs open practice Aug. 2, then scrimmage Aug. 6 and 7, first at Kingwood and then at Stratford along with a handful of other teams.

Earhart plans to use the week before the season begins Aug. 9 to whip players into shape and begin preparing them for the longer district matches she’s anticipating.

“I think they can have a lot of success, especially with the new district that we’re having,” Earhart said.