The Greenbrier West volleyball team has qualified for the state tournament each of the past six seasons.
Over that successful run, the Cavaliers have won five straight sectional titles and three of the last four regional crowns along the way.
With a strong returning core of athletes, the ladies from the western side of Greenbrier County will once again be considered a contender for one of the coveted spots in Charleston.
This time however, Greenbrier West will make that journey with a different person at the head of the table.
Following last season, veteran head coach Cindy Nutter stepped down and the head coaching job was handed to assistant head coach Joe Robertson.
“I am excited about the job and I think it will be good,” Robertson said. “Last year Cindy took a different job right at the beginning of the season, so she had to miss a little bit here and there, more than she normally did. I was already running things in practice some days.”
Prior to being named head coach, Robertson was the assistant at Greenbrier West for the past three years, but he has been a part of the high school volleyball scene for quite some time now.
“My older daughter played at Shady Spring and graduated in 2013. She also played travel ball for Club Attack, so I have been around volleyball a lot,” Robertson explained. “When she got out, I liked volleyball, so I started as a volleyball referee.”
His time as an official opened the door for him to step in as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers.
“I knew a lot of the girls from doing their games. When Emily Osborne had a baby and decided to step down, some of the girls asked me to apply for the assistant job since they knew me,” Robertson said. “I am glad I did and I enjoy coaching. I have coached travel softball and was a volunteer assistant for West softball. I also coached the middle school softball for a couple of years.”
While his decision to coach might have seemed easy on the surface, for Robertson it was a little tougher with a daughter, Riley Robertson, joining the team as an incoming freshman.
“I didn’t really want to do it my first year or two because I had a daughter playing that was young and didn’t want anyone to think something was effecting that,” Roberson said. “She has started now for three years. I am glad I took the job and I feel like she is too.”
The first year head coach has also been a student of the game with plenty of film work.
“I have been studying a lot and I am trying to improve,” Robertson said. “Cindy already ran some pretty high-level stuff for high school, so I am just trying to fine tune it.”
With his daughter returning as an all-state setter, along with all-state hitters Kadie O’Dell and Preslee Treadway, naturally, expectations will be running high in Charmco.
“We still have two of the best outside hitters in the state. We will miss the seniors, especially (Concord University signee) Megan Poticher in the middle. Hopefully we have a couple of girls that can step in there and fill that role,” Robertson said. “We have some new faces that have shown up and we have a great group of girls. We have also had a good turnout so far for our summer workouts.”
Should Greenbrier West make it seven years in a row at the state volleyball tournament, the biggest challenge will be capturing the elusive win in the Capital City.
“I told the girls when we had the awards ceremony that we are getting the reputation of a team that goes to the state tournament each year,” Robertson said. “We have to be careful that we don’t get the reputation of a team that can’t win down there since we haven’t won a match. State tournament games aren’t always about the best team, it is about who plays the best. It is not always the same thing.”
“There is a lot of things to handle,” Robertson continued. “There is the pressure and all of the games going on beside you at the same time. It is a crazy atmosphere. Our girls don’t really play travel ball, so they are not used to the distractions as much. I know we have the physical ability and the athletes to do it. It is not all the same girls, but we went to states in three sports this year.”
Robertson is hoping a roster of experienced players and a tougher schedule this year will help accomplish that goal.
“We are playing five tournaments. One of them is the Coalfield Conference tournament. Then we will be playing the Nicholas County tournament that we won last year,” Robertson said. “(Head coach) Matt (Sauvage) over at (Greenbrier) East is doing his tournament again and he has some really good teams there. We will play tournaments at Ravenswood and Buffalo where we will see some of the really good single-A teams from other parts of the states. We need to play those teams to see what we need to work on going forward.”
“If I can get the right people in the correct positions I think we have a chance to be really good.”
