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Mississinawa
Valley senior Mallory Livingston set a new kills record in
volleyball Saturday
with this kill against Franklin Monroe. The old
record was held by her sister, Mackenzie. CNO
Photo by Nancy Feldner -
splitsecondsports.com
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Livingston sets kills
mark
MV rolls over FM in three
By George Starks
PITSBURG- When Mississinawa Valley senior Mallory Livingston recorded
her 271st kill of the season, coach Scott Brewer called for a time-out.
Livingston had no idea why.
“I think the score was 7-1 when I got the kill and coach called a
time-out,” Livingston said. “I really wanted to know what was going on.
We were winning, I didn’t understand.”
At that point, Brewer told her she had just broke the single season
kills mark that had been set by her sister, Mackenzie.
“When he told me, I almost started crying,” Livingston admitted. “I had
no idea what was going on at first. It was exciting and I was getting
teary eyed. Coach told me I was going to have to call Mackenzie and let
her know. We’ve had something of a competition over the last two years
about me getting her record. Last year as a junior, I came close.
Mackenzie was very happy and she congratulated me and told me good job.”
Over his career as a coach, Brewer has had the luxury of coaching some
outstanding hitters. At Tri-Village it was Emily Fisherback and Elaina
Kakatolis at Franklin Monroe as well as Mackenzie Livingston at MV.
In addition, he coached Jeff Overfield at Tri-Village when the Patriots
had a boys team.
Now, Mallory Livingston set a new standard at Mississinawa Valley.
“I coached her sister for two years and saw her break the old record,”
Brewer recalled. “It’s a pleasure to be able to coach kids like this.
They go out ready to play. I had their other sister, Macy. I thought
Mackenzie was one of the best hitters I had coached and she was right
there with Kakatolis and Fisherback and they could pound the ball.
Mallory can hit the ball harder and she is one of the best back row
players I’ve ever coached. She’s not leading the team in digs this year
but she is second.”
As a coach, Brewer admits he’s been blessed with some outstanding
players.
“When you’re a coach, it’s a big plus to have that dominant middle
hitter,” Brewer said. “Mallory probably is a middle but we play her
outside because she hits the line so nice. By playing her on the
outside, it’s affected her blocks. Last year she had a lot of blocks
and this year she doesn’t have near the blocks, but yesterday we did
put her in the middle for a few rotations and she ended up with six
blocks. She’s an excellent blocker because she jumps so well. She’s a
once in a lifetime player and as a coach, you’re tickled to death to be
a part of her career. It‘s a pleasure to be able to coach kids like
her. She‘s played club ball and J. O. Ball for so long, she knows what
to do when she goes out there.”
While Livingston gets the accolades, she knows she can’t do it alone.
“I have a great group of girls to play with,” Livingston said. “Hope
(Neargarder) and Victoria (Humphries) give me those sets. It takes a
whole team playing together to win, not just one person.”
While Livingston acknowledged her setters, Brewer took it one step
further.
“We have Mattie Murphy, Shelby Rehmert and Sarah Carroll who gets some
nice passes to the setters,” Brewer said. It all starts with them.
Mallory has the record for kills but Rehmert will probably set the
record for digs to. Good passing makes for good hitting and we have
that.”
With three games left in the season, Livingston will increase the kills
number and Rehmert will have a shot at the digs record.
The first of those three was Monday at MV against Twin Valley South.
The Hawks will play Tri-County North tonight before finishing up at
home Thursday with National Trail on senior night.
The Hawks won in three against the Jets at the Hangar, 25-13, 25-9 and
25-15.
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