State underway
State tournaments for fast-pitch softball and fall baseball have started, and they’ll be joined on Friday by volleyball.
NEWCASTLE — When Karin Moore stepped away from coaching volleyball, her future job didn’t exist yet.
Four years and three kids later, Moore is back at the helm of a volleyball team again, this time leading Class 4A Newcastle to a 21-10 record and a berth in the state tournament.
“You try to pick up right where you left off,” Moore said. “I missed the atmosphere of competition and the overall feeling of the sport itself. It’s been very comfortable getting back into it.”
Moore coached at Norman North for 12 years before leaving her job as both the coach and a teacher to start a family.
She said the transition to Newcastle has been easy and reminiscent of her first years at North, which was also building program tradition when she took over in 2001.
“It feels similar, and it’s comfortable to be in that role again,” she said. “There’s no air conditioning in the gym just like at North at the time. It’s a young volleyball community that’s really embracing the sport.”
Moore said her team is a scrappy one that took a little bit of time to get a feel for its new coach. Moore started in late July, just a short time before the season got underway in August.
“It definitely took some adjusting to me and my style,” Moore said. “But we figured things out and the girls have really adapted well.”
Led by senior captains Ellie Davidson and Aubrey Sanders as well as sophomore captain Jordan Ashley, Moore said her team is almost always at ease with itself and has a quiet confidence when they are on the court.
“It’s a real true team effort,” Moore said. “If someone is struggling, someone else picks it up. They have a tendency to not get too concerned with mistakes and are always looking at the next thing they can do better.”
Newcastle has a tough first draw in the state tournament on Friday as it faces off with No. 1 seed Christian Heritage Academy at 10 a.m. in Choctaw.
“We know we’ll have to play mistake free and bring our A-game,” Moore said. “We’ll just play our game and see how things go.”