Photo: Westbrook Christian’s Ellison Stewart (21) Kylee Wyatt (4) and Marley Cox (9) compete at the 2023 AHSAA Class 3A state tournament in Birmingham. (Messenger file photo by Taylor Spradley)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
The Westbrook Christian volleyball team’s temporary nickname should be the Lady Rehabs.
Six members of the team’s 10-person roster either underwent surgery over the past year or suffered injuries just prior to or since the start of the season three weeks ago. The latest setback was the loss of outside hitter Ellison Stewart, who suffered a severely sprained knee this past weekend.
That rash of bad luck, however, has not led to a slow start out of the gate. Starting with a season-opening win over Sand Rock on Aug. 22 And ending with a 6-0 run at the West End Invitational Tournament on Sept. 7, the Lady Warriors ran off 20 straight victories. That stretch included only two set losses, paving the way for the team to reach No. 2 in the Class 3A state rankings.
The team’s unbeaten streak was broken in a five-set loss to Area 12 rival Ohatchee last Tuesday (Sept. 10).
In her 39 years as a high school volleyball coach, including 22 at the varsity level, Denise Mattison said she has never come close to having so many walking wounded on her roster.
“I can’t remember any of my players having a serious injury except for one girl years ago at Ashville,” she said. “We’re moving girls into different places making some changes in the rotation because of all the injuries, and they’ve adjusted really well. I ask these girls to do a lot, and they’ve responded.”
Mattison pointed to sophomore defensive specialist Elyse Neal, junior setter Reid Elam and sophomore middle hitter Addi Hammontree as players who have assumed bigger roles in the rotation as their teammates are either sidelined or forced to play limited minutes during their healing process.
“Addi moved from the middle to take over Ellison’s place at outside hitter. Reid has backed up Rylee at setter and played some on the outside. She’s been doing really well with her hits and is getting stronger every time she goes out there.”
This past June, junior hitter Landri Lipscomb was diagnosed with two stress fractures in her back, preventing her from participating in both summer workouts and pre-season practice. She first felt discomfort about a year ago but elected to take the occasional aspirin and live with the pain.
“I really didn’t do anything about it, and it gradually got worse during club season (this past spring),” she said. “I got to the point where I couldn’t pick up a bar bell during workouts and couldn’t pass the ball. So I finally went to the doctor after that, and they took some x-rays and an MRI and found (the stress fractures).”
Lipscomb’s eight-week rehab ended the day before the Lady Warriors’ first match of the season.
“I’m definitely sore every day because I had to jump right back in it after begin out for so long, but knowing that it’s okay for me for play with it makes me feel better mentally,” she said. “I know [the injury] is there because I can feel it, but I really don’t think about it during a match. I definitely don’t ease up or become hesitant because of it.”
Freshman middle hitter Caroline Taylor has been nursing a pulled hamstring for the better part of a year.
“I started feeling it last season, but I didn’t go the trainer about it because (her leg) was still doing what it was supposed to be doing. But it really started bugging me during regionals and getting really tight. I finally went to see a doctor after the season, and he told me that I was growing too fast and that my hamstring wasn’t keeping up with my bones.”
Taylor underwent physical therapy and wore a sleeve on her thigh during the basketball and soccer seasons.
“I feel [the hamstring] every now and then but it really doesn’t limit what I need to do when I’m out there playing,” she said.
Junior setter Raylee Neal underwent three procedures on her knee since tearing a ligament and some cartilage as an eighth grader. She underwent arthroscopic surgery this past spring and is medically cleared for this season.
“Sometimes the knee gives out on me or it locks up, but it really doesn’t bother me that much,” she said. “One thing I’m not allowed to do is hit the floor to get to a ball. I’ve done it a couple of times so far (this season) before I remembered that I’m not supposed to go down on the ground.”
Junior defensive specialist Sara Cate Windle also went under the knife for a torn ALC. She suffered the injury during the final basketball game of the 2023-24 season.
“I went up for a jump shot and my knee buckled under me when I landed,” she said. “They thought that it was hyper-extended, but the MRI said my ACL was fully torn and that my meniscus was 70 percent torn. I actually passed out when they told me, because even though it hurt a lot, I was able to walk on it and really didn’t think that (the knee) was torn.”
Windle was medically cleared the day before the first volleyball practice on Aug. 5.
“I knew that I was going to get really sore, but my physical therapy prepared me for that,” she said.
Stewart suffered her injury while diving to save a ball from hitting the ground during the West End tournament.
“I planted my knee the wrong way and felt a pop,” she said. “I couldn’t get up, and I was really scared, it hurt really bad, and I thought that my season was done. But it’s just a severe strain and nothing was torn. I hope to be back in a couple of weeks, but it might be closer to six (weeks).”
Senior libero Kylee Wyatt has been limited by a sore shoulder over the past few months.
“I dislocated it a few years ago during basketball, and they popped it back in and I never much thought about it after that,” she said. “It popped back out again last volleyball season, and I wound up tearing two ligaments.”
Wyatt visited three different physicians this past spring before discovering that she had a partial tear of her labium.
“They said that I either could have surgery or I had to fight thought [the pain],” she said. “I decided to tough it out and took a shot to cortisone for the pain. Then I got hit it the back during summer basketball and [the shoulder] popped out again and hasn’t gone back in since. The last doctor I saw told me to take it easy because I have some internal bruising, but it’s kind of hard to take it easy in volleyball.”
Last season, Westbrook went 30-15, won the area tournament, finished runner-up at regionals and qualified for the program’s first-ever trip to the Elite Eight state tournament.
“There’s only 10 [players], so they have to not only play, but play hard,” said Mattison. “But these girls are mentally tough, and they know what to do. These young ladies had stuck together and prevailed. They don’t complain or feel sorry for themselves and tried to get back as soon as they could.”