The Future: Brown, Stover, Temple bringing excitement back to Richland County volleyball

LEXINGTON — When Lexington volleyball's Janelle Wyant is in the coaching zone, very few things make her smile.

She is locked in, laser-focused and concentrated on her team and the next point. But, she can't help but crack a smile on a particular play. The opposing team sends a serve over the net right to sophomore Tatum Stover. Stover receives the ball perfectly sending a dime pass up to fellow sophomore Bella Temple who positions herself perfectly under the ball and sends a super light set just above the net before sophomore teammate Ava Brown springs out of nowhere and sends down a massive spike down the line for a point.

Wyant smiles because it is a flawless point. She also smiled because it is going to be a similar routine for her team over the next three years.

Brown, Stover and Temple make up the future of Lexington, and even Richland County, volleyball, and my oh my, how bright it is. The sophomore trio has Wyant very excited about the future of her program, but more so, the present looks just as promising.

"I am just excited about how well they play and work together," Wyant said. "They have these nonverbals on the court that they are already moving in the right directions before I can even adjust the offense or defense. They all started playing together at an early age and were all on the same Mid-Ohio Volleyball Academy team when they were 13 and 14. So they have that chemistry already built and it is beautiful."

Stover earned honorable mention All-District 6 and All-Ohio Cardinal Conference honors a year ago when she recorded 164 kills, 107 digs and 26 blocks as a freshman. Temple was the team's setter last year handing out 452 assists while also adding 55 kills, 32 aces, 13 blocks and 179 digs to earn honorable mention All-OCC honors. Brown had a massive freshman season where she did it all with 330 kills, 51 aces, 67 total blocks, 193 digs and 337 assists earning her third team All-Ohio, first team All-District 6 and first team All-OCC honors.

So, it is easy to see why they are the future of Richland County volleyball, but as sophomores, it is a huge ask to put on someone who only has a learner's permit.

"Sometimes, I have to step back and reevaluate all that I am asking them to do and my expectations of that given how young they truly are," Wyant said. "I have to tell myself to remember they are only 15, make sure to stay positive and help them grow 1% every day. They are so amazing already, but I want to make sure they are always improving."

The three amigos

Brown, Temple and Stover got an early start in the sport playing as second graders in youth programs all across the area. They continued to build that chemistry on the court all through club volleyball until they were 13 and 14 years old. Brown was invited to play for Blackswamp Volleyball, an elite travel program that scours all over the country attending tournaments every weekend.

So, when they got to the varsity level last season, one would expect there to be some rust when working together, but the trio picked up right where it left off leading Lexington to a 19-6 record and Richland County's first sectional championship (along with Lucas) since Crestview won one in 2018. It was something Temple saw coming before the first ball of the season.

"Walking into the gym last year, we knew the volleyball program was going to get better," Temple said. "We had seven seniors who were absolutely incredible and three freshmen who were ready to play, but a lot of the credit goes to those seniors for teaching us how to get ready for this level. It was such a great experience to get that far and it gives us the confidence that we can get there again this year."

After some years away, Richland County volleyball is back on the map thanks to the terrific trio.

"We have been thinking about this since we started playing together," Brown said. "We always talked about getting to high school, playing varsity and bringing volleyball back to the highest level. We played club and we always played against the best of the best in our age group and it helped us understand how to perform and play with a higher IQ."

And that IQ has translated to a hot start to the 2023 season. Through the first four games of the year, Lexington is 3-1 with their lone loss coming to Ohio Cardinal Conference foe Mount Vernon in five sets where Lady Lex owned an 11-4 lead in the fifth set before the Yellow Jackets made a miracle comeback.

Brown already has 102 kills, 34 digs and 36 assists. Temple has 115 assists, 43 digs, and 27 kills to go with 11 aces. Stover, she has 48 kills, 58 digs and seven aces. All in just four games. The trio is doing a lot of everything on the court and they are all interchangeable. But they aren't doing it alone.

"It is like 1-2-3," Temple said. "One of us passes, one of us sets and the other hits and it could be a combination of any of us. Our teammates do such a great job of filling all of the other roles because we need a cohesive group of six to accomplish great things. They do such a great job."

Brown, Stover and Temple work well together on the court and have for many years. They are just finally able to showcase it at the highest level of high school volleyball and they are flying high despite having so much responsibility on their shoulders.

"It is a lot, but we do really good with it," Stover said. "We play club and that is fast-paced and then we come here and get to the varsity level and it plays just as quick. We are used to it, but we do it together. We work together so well if I get the serve receive pass to Bella and she sets it up for Ava and she drills it down the line. It is such a beautiful thing. But we also know that even if I have a bad pass Bella can make up for it with a nice set and if either one of them has a bad set, we can adjust and make a good hit on the ball. It is all about working together."

And they work together in a variety of ways, not just in volleyball. They were also members of the basketball team last year, but most importantly, they carry a great relationship outside of sports.

"Part of it is because we are so close even when we aren't on the court," Brown said. "We have been playing together since the third grade so that just gave us so much experience playing with each other that we already know what each other is going to do on the court. We keep our friendship problems off the court when it is game time."

It is that friendship that has helped them develop as great teammates.

"We have been friends since we were little and that centered around volleyball," Temple said. "We are so close, we talk all of the time and we seem to be on the same page with a lot of things. It is almost like we talk without talking.

"We all three are good kids. We have been doing this so long with the same responsibilities that it is just kind of expected. I have been captain on my club team and it just comes naturally to all of us at this point."

With high expectations come major responsibilities

It is unfair to put so much on the shoulders of someone so young, but Brown, Stover and Temple welcome it. They thrive on being the go-to players on their teams. They want the game-deciding play to start and end with them. And if they fail, they want the responsibility squarely on their shoulders so they can learn and grow from victory and defeat.

"I feel like the three of us, if we lose a game, we feel like it is on us," Brown said. "We understand that it isn't completely, but we play such big roles that we should determine the outcome. It is a lot of responsibility, but our teammates help us understand that it is a total team effort."

And they hold themselves accountable to reach the incredibly high standard they set for themselves. If Stover misses a dig or sends a spike wide of the out-of-bounds line, she is the first one to admit the mistake. She is the one who makes sure she lets herself know that it isn't OK. She tells herself she let the team down, but she also wants another crack at it to make up for it.

"I get so frustrated out there on the court," Stover said. "I am very easily discouraged but I have my teammates there to pick me up and they do such a great job of keeping me focused on the next play. We all have high expectations for ourselves and when we don't meet them, we get mad at ourselves so it is on each one of us to make sure to pick each other up."

It is a level of expectation they all carry within themselves and it all starts at home.

"We all have parents who really push us hard and coaches who expect great things out of us," Stover said. "We all played club together and they know that if I get angry, they need to get me a good ball so I can take my frustrations out and get a good hit. We know how to address each other."

Onward and upward for Lexington Volleyball

After putting Lexington volleyball back on the map in 2022, the trio is tasked with making sure the team and the program improve over the next three years and that means building on last year's district qualifying season where they were bounced in the semifinals.

It is also about making sure they improve as individuals so they can help the program reach those goals, like winning the first district title at Lexington, and in Richland County, since 2017.

It all starts with staying hungry.

"There is always someone who is better than you," Brown said. "There is always someone to look up to. I feel like you can be a big fish in a small pond, but there are always bigger ponds out there and you are not always going to be the best. You can be the best at your school, but you can always go somewhere else and not be that big fish. There is always more to strive for and that is to be the best version of yourself."

And the best version of themselves is yet to come despite all of their early success. Temple sees so much potential in her teammates and cannot wait to help them reach their maximum.

"Tatum's hustle on the court is insane," Temple said. "Ava's height and the way she goes for every ball, uses her athleticism and her arm swing is crazy. I love watching them succeed."

Stover cannot wait for what the future brings. This year's varsity team has just two seniors, Jenna Lehnhart and Kaylie Eichorn, so nearly the entire roster will be back next season along with a standout 8th-grade class coming in. Stover is taking the future personally.

"It is going to be an interesting future for sure," Stover said. "Ava's little sister is coming up and she is really good and that entire class is entertaining. We want to set a great example for the younger classes. We want them to look at how hard we work and take after that and it is on us to set that standard."

And that standard starts this year. The early portion of the season has started out nicely with wins over Perkins, Ontario and West Holmes, but that loss to Mount Vernon puts them behind in the race for an OCC title. Lex still controls its own destiny as it plays Mount Vernon again later in the season and can avenge the loss. But Wyant isn't even thinking about that just yet. She is focused on one thing.

"I try to talk to them about how volleyball is a game of mistakes and the team that makes the least, usually wins," Wyant said. "It is all about how you come back from a mistake that makes you an exceptional athlete in any sport so that is my main focus with them."

If she can see her sensational sophomores bounce back from a mistake in a positive way, maybe that is another way to make her smile.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ava Brown, Tatum Stover, Bella Temple bringing back Lexington volleyball