Ella Shelby is entering her third season as a starting libero for Southside’s volleyball team. A senior, Shelby hopes to follow the lead of last season’s seniors for the Mavericks, a senior class that was chock full of leadership and talent.
She’s also one of three returning starters for Southside.
But with a volleyball program such as Southside, where the mantra that “tradition never graduates” is fairly prevalent, Shelby believes the Mavericks can be right back in the running for a 6A-West Conference title and remain a contender to play for the Class 6A championship.
“We’ve been working hard in practice, doing a bunch of drills, and we know they’re young, but we’ve been mentoring,” Shelby said. “And one of our girls (senior setter Madeline Wilson) tore her ACL. She was also a senior, and for our sophomore setter, she’s been helping her with her setting. I am also helping by talking to my hitters, especially our freshman Addison (Tharnish, a freshman right side hitter). I just let them know what they need to do and they listen.”
Shelby also knows that the new-look Mavericks can come together at the right time and make another deep postseason run. One reason for her confidence is the team’s coaches.
“It’s our great coaching, and it’s also in our resilience,” Shelby said. “We just work well together, talk about everything, no drama or anything. So I think that’s why we work so well together, and we’re resilient.”
And being a senior means really emphasizing to the younger players what it means to play volleyball at Southside. Southside head coach Natalie Throneberry also loves the leadership qualities that Shelby provides to the coach’s much younger roster.
“When Ella came in as a sophomore, she earned the libero jersey, and she hasn’t lost it since,” Throneberry said. “I think this year, the biggest change I’ve seen is the vocal leadership. Last year, we had just a lot of big personalities that had a lot of vocal leadership roles, and in this year, we really needed some new voices to pop up, and she was one that has really stepped in, and she’s constantly talking on the floor, she’s constantly talking in practice, and I think that’s been a difference maker, and making sure that we’re playing to the best of our ability.”
Throneberry has also bestowed the role of captain to Shelby.
“The libero role, that’s the anchor of your defense,” Throneberry said. “You need somebody who has a high volleyball IQ. You also need somebody who’s going to be level-headed on the floor.
“Ella is my floor captain this year, because I know that I can trust her to go have intelligent conversations with the referee, ask the right questions and do so respectfully, which is a big deal. I’ve never had a libero before that’s also a captain, so it’s new for us, and I’ve heard it’s a trend lately.”
Recently, Shelby earned her 1,000th career dig. As a junior, she recorded 585 of those. Shelby has played three seasons on the varsity, and something she has observed from her sophomore season is leadership.
“Definitely the vocal leadership, because we’ve always had those big seniors, and they’re always big leadership roles, and I’ve had to step up, especially this year, by talking to all my teammates and just work hard and practice, get with it,” said Shelby, who’s hoping to get to continue playing volleyball somewhere following this season.