A transition year for Harrison volleyball

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Harrison is off to a 1-1 start in a 2012 season that can be described as transitional. Former Raiders' assistant Lindsay Charles takes over as head coach for longtime Raiders coach Lori Janssen.

The Raiders started the season with a victory over Benton Central before dropping a match to a very good Westfield team. Harrison graduated some very good players but also return some skilled players, including senior Kayla Ostrom.

“I think we are having a good time so far, obviously winning is fun so we would like to do a lot more of that. I think we are getting used to each other and the kids have done a really good job of adapting to me and trying to get on board with the program,” said Harrison Head Coach Lindsay Charles.

Under Janssen's guidance, the Raiders achieved at least 20 victories in 12 of her 16 seasons, including a school record 31 wins in 1998. Replacing a coach with that resume will be difficult but Coach Charles is embracing the challenge.

“Personality wise I know that I'm just a different person, every coach you have has a different sort of mentality. We have been trying to focus on being good communicators and being very up front about things. I think hopefully that has helped and the expectation for me is that they work hard and largely they do that and they always have,” said Charles.

The transition has also been difficult on the current roster. Six seniors and three juniors make up over half of the varsity roster this season. With the completion of summer camp and workouts, the Raiders are feeling more comfortable with their new head coach.

“It has been a really big adjustment especially being with this one coach’s style for three years now and now a new coach coming in. We are doing some of the same sort of things but a little bit of tweaking here and there trying to make it better,” said senior Kayla Ostrom.

The Raider volleyball mentality has remained the same, to compete on a daily basis and make a deep tournament run year after year.

“Like any new coach you have to understand why they are doing certain things and how they run things but the expectations are still high and we still try and meet them,” said Ostrom.

The Raiders won four consecutive sectional titles in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and hope to begin another dominate run at the end of this season.