New Blue Devils hope their results are same as the old Devils

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By Andrew Petersen | Wednesday, September 03, 2008 |

Davenport Central volleyball players, clockwise from upper left: Alexis Mitchell, Kendra Barnes, Pauline Heraly and Taylor Sharoian hope they can keep up the Blue Devils' recent success. (Jeff Cook/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

Last year, recognizing the girls on the Davenport Central volleyball roster must have seemed easy for fans and opponents alike.

Ten seniors formed the collective face of a team that beat Bettendorf and tied the Bulldogs for the Mississippi Athletic Conference crown.

Now it’s up to the new Blue Devils.

Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley are preseason top-10 teams in Class 4A. Central isn’t among the teams named to the top-15 by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

The Devils aren’t mad, nor are they surprised. They aren’t intimidated either.

“Bettendorf has always overshadowed us,” Central senior Alexis Mitchell said. “Our team this year is so strong, but we’re the underdogs after losing so many players. We have all the confidence we need and all the players we need to defend our title again.”

Mitchell, an all-state outside hitter as a junior, has become the team’s de facto leader with all the new bodies.

Among the throng of newcomers are Davenport West transfer Taylor Sharoian, freshman Kendra Barnes and Belgian foreign exchange student Pauline Heraly.

It’s an eclectic mix of talent second-year coach Bre Scherler is optimistic she can turn into several productive rotations.

She’s had ample backing from her five returning seniors.

“That’s something they’ve conveyed to me,” Scherler said. “‘This program is important to us, and we want to leave it in the state it is right now.’ They don’t want to leave it in a form of disarray.

“They’re starting to take leadership roles and come out of their shells.”

They’re also starting to look more like a team that’s spent more than a couple months together.

Sharoian, who previously played on the Platform Elite club team with Mitchell, joined the Devils this summer and has developed a bond with her new teammates.

It wasn’t immediate, especially for a former Falcon.

“At first, it’s weird,” Sharoian said. “When you go to a different school, you never like people from the opposite school. After a while, they understand who I am. If I take control of a situation, they trust me to do that.”

Outside of another fine MAC showing, Central is determined to get better in its non-conference play. Last year, the Devils were 8-1 in the MAC but just 10-12 elsewhere.

They haven’t been to state since 2004 and even then, they fell to Ankeny in the quarterfinals.

That potential stage is still months away. But weekend tournament play is days out.

“I think when we went out of conference to some of those tournaments against these other teams, we got intimidated by the prestigious records and great players,” Mitchell said. “A lot of us fell apart. This year we’re going to change that.”

The 6-foot-1 Mitchell will sign a scholarship offer later this year to play volleyball for the Wisconsin Badgers. In the months before that momentous occasion, Mitchell will serve as the focal point for opposing teams.

She will lean on six teammates ranging from 5-10 to 6-0 for help in the frontcourt.

Expect little drop-off between Central rotations, and remember amid cries of “overlooked,” Scherler has four starters back.

But Bettendorf and PV have developed just as quickly. Any number of other teams could be threats as well.

Central senior Allie Corbin would love to see other teams figure the Spartans and Bulldogs have surpassed the Devils.

“I think being the underdog is actually really cool because you surprise people,” Corbin said. “In your head, you’re like, ‘I’m going to beat them because they think I’m going to lose.’ So they go in thinking ‘We’re going to kill them.’ And you’re like, ‘No. We’re going to surprise you.’ ”

Wherever those surprises come from in the MAC, nothing will be entirely unexpected — except an unbeaten champion.

Andrew Petersen can be contacted at (563) 383-2288 or apetersen@qctimes.com.