Richmond varsity volleyball coach

Crystal Turner and her Spartans are ready to defeat some Missouri River Valley Conference (MRVC) West Division teams.

“We want to take down Carrollton,” Turner said Aug. 10 following a practice in the high school gym. “We want to compete with Lexington, try to take them down. … We have some goals to win some conference games, which (we) haven’t done in a while.”

According to Missouri State High School Activities Association records, “a while” translates to Oct. 17, 2019, when Richmond swept a best-of-three home match with Carrollton. Since then, the Spartans have lost 19 straight divisional matches, including 10 last season, when they went 3-22-2 overall.

“That’s our No. 1 thing is just to keep competing against our conference opponents and getting more wins against them,” Turner said.

As of the first week of practice, there were 33 girls looking to help the Spartans compete against their MRVC East foes and other schools, according to Turner. She attributed the turnout to “a lot of kids that are falling in love with the game” – and a sizable crop of firstyear high schoolers.

Turner, who estimated the number of freshmen at eight to 10, said the firstyear high schoolers bring volleyball experience with them from having played in Richmond’s middle school program.

“Also, several of them have played club ball here this past year, which helped them tremendously to build those skills that they’re showing,” she said.

Sydnee Burnett is part of the influx of first-year high schoolers.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Burnett said of playing high school volleyball. “It’s different.”

Specifically, prep volleyball is different in that “it’s just a lot more competitive,” Burnett said.

The Spartans have three seniors to help lead Burnett, her fellow freshmen and others: Sarah Brundgardt, Kelly Jaggars and Alli Powell. Turner is already seeing their leadership skills.

“They use their voices well,” she said. “They do some good mentoring as well, and they lead our drills very well. So I’m looking … (to) them for just general leadership.”

At press time, the threesome were slated to lead the Spartans into a preseason jamboree Wednesday, hosted by Lexington. Burnett and Jaggars were looking forward to it.

“I’m excited to see how the lineups work together and get into (the) season,” Jaggars said.

The Spartans will then open the regular season against Summit Christian Academy, a private, Lee’s Summitbased high school, Sept. 1 at Summit Christian. This is the fifth straight season Richmond has faced the Eagles and the fourth straight time the Spartans have opened against them. Summit Christian swept the first four meetings.

“They brought some power last year,” Turner said. “I think we’re a little bit more ready for them this year, defensively and offensively.”

THE SPARTANS, seen practicing Aug. 10 in the Richmond High School gym, look to win some MRVC East matches in varsity volleyball.