Central volleyball does 180 in return to winning ways
Central Christian players celebrate a point in a recent win. The program enters the postseason with 15 victories, the most since the 2020 season.
Since the early 1990s, Central Christian’s volleyball team has been one of the top small-school programs in the state.
This past offseason, however, on the heels of a third straight losing season, second-year coach and former Comet standout Karmen Miller was going to do anything and everything to get the school back to its winning ways.
Even if it meant stepping on the court and helping her players get prepared for the upcoming season.
It, well, didn’t go exactly to plan after she tore her ACL, meniscus and meniscal rook in her knee while playing the girls in an open gym.
“Bad coach move,” joked Miller, who was on crutches until the final week of the preseason. “I couldn’t even stand on the court and toss a ball safely until about halfway through the season.”
While the physical toll was taxing for the former outside and middle hitter who was a big part of four straight regional teams as a player, the results in her second season at the helm have made it all worth it.
After a 6-15 campaign last fall, Central has done a complete 180-degree turn this year with a 15-6 mark heading into the OHSAA postseason — the first winning season at the school since 2020.
“I really enjoyed last year, but it was also very stressful,” Miller said. “As a new head coach, I had so much to learn and felt like I was often just keeping my head above water.
“But, I knew right away that it was a role that would be very life-giving for me.”
Miller is no stranger to what Comet volleyball means and neither is the coaching staff that she has surrounded herself with.
Her assistant, Megan Miller, is a former Central Christian setter who still holds the all-time school record for aces and service points, along with being fourth in career assists and set attempts, while both JV coach Michele (Johnston) Patterson and Juliane (Steiner) Kozel played with Miller on teams in the late 90s and early 2000s that helped put the program on the map.
Understanding the history of Comets volleyball and what it means to compete for a faith-based school in Central is one of the most important things the current coach wants to pass along.
“Having each experienced the beauty of that for ourselves as students, it allows us to have a vision for what it can be like for this specific group of players,” said Miller, who in her playing days was Karmen Steiner. “Our coaching staff and all of the players were amazingly supportive (during my injury), covered for me in so many ways, and made the season possible for me to coach at all. I am very grateful to each one of them.”
With eight returning players from a year ago, Miller and her staff had a solid nucleus of players to build around.
That experience they picked up in 2023 was key in the group coming together this offseason, this time storming out of the gate this past August with a 6-1 record after having just one victory through the first seven matches last fall.
But Miller and her staff also did some tinkering with the lineup in the summer by having the offense run through junior setter Maclaren Fry in a 5-1 system, along with moving a handful of hitters around and taking former libero, sophomore Ellie Rohr, and making her a six-rotation outside hitter.
That along with moving junior Saralyn Stjernholm, a former setter, to libero, helped the Comets in a variety of ways
“We had just enough glimpses of what could be to really motivate everyone to work hard in the offseason and be willing to try some new things,” Miller said. “We got to see potential in players to be in different positions, and it allowed us to make some significant changes.”
The results have been evident as Rohr has had a stat-stuffing season in averaging 2.5 kills and 2.9 digs per set, along with 35 aces, while Fry entered the final week of the season with over 500 assists and Stjernholm had a team-best 3.5 digs/set average.
Central Christian also has a trio of seniors that have set the tone, both opposite hitter Katelyn Miller and outside hitter Sophia Rohrer have led the way on the court, with Micah Kozel-Steiner — despite being out for the season after having ACL surgery — helping out as a team manager and assistant coach.
Junior defensive specialist Sarah Miller, along with sophomore Chloe Rohrer (middle/outside hitter), Sommer Shue (middle hitter) and Brinna Miller (middle hitter) have also had an impact on a team that recently clinched the Mid-Buckeye Conference championship.
Hannah Himes, Mary Miller and Lydia Nuzum are also expected to be on the postseason roster.
“They have learned how to trust and lean on one another and, over time, they have come to believe in themselves and each other,” coach Miller said. “Our identity as a team has slowly changed in some really great ways.
“I could say a lot about each one and what she brings, but the main thing is that everyone on the team contributes,” she added. “Everyone brings something special, and we need each and every piece.”