After last season ended with an 8th Region semifinal loss to South Oldham, eight-year veteran head coach Amy Marx said to look for some big things from the Simon Kenton Pioneers volleyball team this season.
Simon Kenton has not disappointed, putting together a 24-5 run after pretty much everyone returned from last year’s team that took its lumps going 16-20. The 2022 team still won a fifth straight 32nd District championship and made a fifth straight appearance in the region semifinals. The Pioneers have now won 20 or more games in five of the last six seasons after finishing below .500 in Marx’ first two seasons.
“This is probably the most close-knit team I’ve had as far as supporting each other on and off the court,” Marx said. “That’s why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
Simon Kenton celebrated Senior Night with a come-from-behind 2-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-9) win over South Oldham on Tuesday. The Pioneers concluded the season 6-1 on the home floor of Joe Stark Memorial Gymnasium with the lone loss coming to the defending state champion Notre Dame Pandas.
“Everyone does what they need to do. All of us together are doing great things on the court,” said CeCe Scalf, Simon Kenton junior defensive specialist. “If we didn’t have that team chemistry, we probably would not have come through with the win (Tuesday). We made those good plays when we needed to in the second and third sets.”
Marx challenged the Pioneers to cut down on the missed serves during a timeout in the first game. Simon Kenton did that better in the final two games riding the momentum of playing in front of the home crowd, which included athletes from other sports.
Sophomore Jenna Kitchens leads Simon Kenton with 241 kills through 26 games. After Kitchens had to leave the game against South Oldham due to injury, others stepped up. Senior Alisha Hawkins and junior Keira Hans along with Sophie Spanier took it up a notch.
“We’re prepared to make adjustments when we need to and not panic,” Marx said. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on in practice also. They’re absolutely doing a great job of getting there.”
All four seniors in Rehkamp, Spanier, Hawkins and Giada Simionato started the game against South Oldham. Simionato is a foreign exchange student from Italy and first one Marx has had on the team in her tenure.
“I like it because it’s different,” Simionato said. “The rules and the plays are different from (other countries). Sometimes I miss home. But my teammates and people that support have helped me throughout the year.”
Simon Kenton has displayed its balance and depth all season. Through 26 games, Simon Kenton had 735 kills, 125 blocks, 674 assists, 971 digs and 187 aces. Hans had 176 kills, 23 blocks including seven solo and Hawkins had 111 kills and a team-high 37 blocks, including nine solo.
“It’s good because we can spread the ball out,” Hans said. “The other teams never know where we’re going. We have multiple hitters that can put the ball down. That has been a big tool for us this season.”
Rehkamp had a team-high 386 assists and Scalf was second with 107 through 26 games. Chasteen leads Simon Kenton with 188 digs with Spanier, Kitchens and Hans following with 150, 138 and 106, respectively. Hans led the Pioneers with 29 aces through 26 games and Chasteen had 28 with Rekhamp and Spanier recording 22 and 21, respectively.
Simon Kenton has finished 4-1 against the Oldham County schools comprising of the 29th District, defeating South Oldham and Oldham County twice. The Pioneers also have two wins over Highlands and Campbell County in addition to wins over 9th Region Tournament regulars Ryle, Holy Cross, Cooper and Dixie Heights.
North Oldham has won the 8th Region Tournament 10 times in 11 seasons since the current format came about in 2012. Simon Kenton lost to the Mustangs on Sept. 14, 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-19). The Mustangs lone loss in the region tournament during that span came to Simon Kenton in 2021 before the Pioneers lost to Oldham County in the championship game. During Marx’s tenure, Simon Kenton is 2-8 against North Oldham, but 6-4 against South Oldham and 7-5 against Oldham County.
“When we played (the Mustangs), they didn’t make too many mistakes and we did not put the ball down,” Marx said. “We didn’t play that bad. But we needed to play better and the girls know that.”
Simon Kenton has three tough games left. The Pioneers play at Conner on Tuesday at 7 p.m. then at Walton-Verona (14-14) on Oct. 5 attempting to finish undefeated in district seed play. The Walton-Verona game is the Playing for a Purpose game that sees both teams wear pink and white for breast cancer awareness.
“We’re going to have some good competition going into our last week so we’re excited about that,” Marx said. “We’ve been working on some alternatives to our line-up and stacking one way or the other. We’re going to put that into play next week.”
Simon Kenton finishes the season at Scott (15-12) in what will be for the Kenton County School District championship.
“We’re still looking match by match,” Marx said. “We’re not counting anything until we get there. They know what they need to do to get there. They also know what they need to do when they get there.”
Simon Kenton is looking to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 1999, when they made it to the state semifinals. They’ve made the 8th Region championship game three times since joining the region in 2012, ’12, 2020 and 2021. The Pioneers sport a 8-2 record against 8th Region opponents, North Oldham and Collins being the only losses.