RIVERSIDE
When Highland’s volleyball team swept Lone Tree in the Huskies’ final home match last October, the Huskies celebrated the moment.
The victory was their 11 th of …
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RIVERSIDE
When Highland’s volleyball team swept Lone Tree in the Huskies’ final home match last October, the Huskies celebrated the moment.
The victory was their 11th of the season, marking Highland’s highest win total since 2016.
After leading Highland to 18 wins in its last two seasons, head coach Gina Trower has resigned from the program in order to spend more family time at home and also continue her other focuses at Highland as an agriculture education teacher and FFA advisor at the high school and middle school. The Highland School Board accepted the resignation at its March 14 meeting.
But she’ll still be there for the Huskies volleyball matches. There’s little question about that.
“After three seasons of flipping the court culture and changing the mindset this season, I plan to spend more time with my family while watching the Huskies grow as a team,” Trower said. “But this time it will just be from the bleachers.”
It certainly was a flip.
When Trower became head coach in 2019, the Huskies were coming off a season in which they won just four matches.
Trower’s rookie season was a challenge. The Huskies won two of their first three matches, but then lost 17 straight. They wound up with three wins and were eliminated by WACO in the first round of a Class 1A regional.
But with a deep bench, the Huskies went on to win seven games in 2020 and reached the quarterfinal round of the 1A regionals. This past season, the Huskies finished 11-15 and lost in the 1A tournament to Winfield-Mt. Union.
Now that Highland has filled its football head coaching position with former Huskies assistant Cory Quail, the school is now focusing on finding Trower’s replacement, said Bill Zywiec, Dean of Students and head boys basketball coach.
“I really enjoyed coaching the athletes at Highland,” Trower said. “Every coach has good days and bad days, but I can say that I’m really going to miss the good days.”
The Huskies will return a strong group that includes seniors Jessica Kraus and MyLei Smith, and juniors Sarah Burton, Payton Brun and Grace Prybil. Burton led the Huskies with 150 kills and 20 blocks. Prybil was No. 1 in assists with 154.
