It’s year three for volleyball at Eupora, and the Lady Eagles are continuing to make strides in the sport. Eupora enters this season looking to take another step forward with a third-straight season of a new head coach. Girls basketball coach Cody Ramer has taken over the program this season after helping last year as an assistant to Meredith Woolbright.
Ramer has studied the game extensively over the last couple of seasons, and he’s ready to lead.
“I feel confident,” Ramer said. “I’ve been able to learn for two years being an assistant and learn the volleyball side of things. The coaching and the things that you don’t see on the court, I’ve already had the experience with that coaching basketball so I don’t have any issues reaching the kids, scheduling or anything like that. We’re excited for the year.”
The big key for Ramer is he has a group of six seniors leading the way this season. Neelie Dillinger, Aubree Mason, Macey Ray, Ally Bingham, Mackenzi Reedwood, and Harper Doggett are all in their final seasons and have plenty of experience playing with the program since its inception.
Ramer is counting on those players, but he’s also counting on younger players like Cydney Murphy to step up.
“My two setters that I’m really relying on are Neelie Dillinger and Mackenzi Reedwood. We moved Mackenzi from libero, and I’m excited about that to have two setters that we can count on,” Ramer said. “Cydney Murphy is one of our hitters, and we’re excited about her. Harper Doggett and Aubree Mason are going to be really big for us as well. I’m looking for a lot of attacks from Murphy and Mason on the outside.”
It's game week for the Lady Eagles as they traveled to Grenada on Tuesday and then to Winona on Thursday. Ramer has been ready to see his players in action after the work that has been put in all offseason.
The fun thing for Ramer and many people in Eupora has been the growth of the game. From a school that spent its falls playing slow pitch softball in the past, a shift toward volleyball has been interesting and fun. It’s trickled all the way down to the younger kids watching in the stands.
“We have a lot of optimism and high-energy practices,” Ramer said. “We’ve got six seniors that are really excited being in their third year. The things that they’ve learned the past two years they’ve really put that into play. We’ve always had a lot of kids interested and wanting to come out, and now we’re seeing a lot of elementary kids wanting to watch it. It excites a lot of these kids to be able to play another sport. I think they really enjoy it.”
