Shortly after Emma Manser smashed the decisive point in Campbell County High School’s win over Scott in the 10th Region volleyball tournament final, Camels coach Mikah Freppon was posed a question.
How did a 23-year-old recent college graduate with no previous head coaching experience lead Campbell County to its first state tournament appearance this decade and one year after the Camels finished 10-16 for a third straight non-winning season?
“It’s a good question,” said Freppon, who finished her volleyball career at Lewis University last year. She graduated earlier this year, after which she was promptly hired by the Camels. “The short answer is, I had a lot of help.”
Here is the long answer.
The cupboard wasn’t bare at Campbell County when Freppon arrived. Six seniors returned. They had good chemistry with each other. Three were named to the 2023 Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association preseason all-state watch list. Two of them are NCAA Division II college recruits: the 6-foot-1 Manser, who has committed to Wheeling University, and fellow 6-1 middle blocker Lexi Scharold, headed to University of Minnesota-Crookston. The other is do-it-all setter Ava Crowl.
Manser leads the team in kills, blocks and service aces. Scharold is second in kills and blocks. Crowl is second in assists. There’s also senior libero Ella Thorwarth, who paces the team in digs, junior defensive specialist A lon McIntyre, second in digs, and sophomore setter Hope Hamilton, the team’s assists leader.
“We have the players,” Freppon said, “I saw that when I got here.”
The Camels were ranked No. 1 in the KVCA 10th Region preseason poll, so expectations were high despite it being Freppon’s maiden season. To the new coach, it was just more proof she had the talent to compete for crowns.
“They just needed the right coach,” said Freppon, a four-year letterwinner at Newport Central Catholic. “They needed someone who is willing to stick with them.”
Freppon is the Campbell County seniors’ fourth different head coach in four years.
“I think we were all a little nervous when she was hired. We didn’t know what we were getting,” Manser said. “But it didn’t take long before we knew. There were a lot of open gyms and the Bluegrass State Games before the season. She was excited for us. We had the feeling she had our backs.”
Manser said the team also had a sizeable chip on its shoulder, something that was motivating the seniors before Freppon arrived. The Camels ended 2022 with a loss to archrival Bishop Brossart in the first round of the 37th District tournament and missed the regional tournament for the first time in seven years.
“When we lost, we said we we’re coming back with triple the effort so it doesn’t happen again,” Manser said. “The feeling of missing the regional was bad.”
Though compelling, it still doesn’t completely account for how the inexperienced Freppon was able to mold talented individuals with a cause into a cohesive unit with belief while nearly doubling the win total from last season into a 19-13 record. It doesn’t fully explain how Freppon was able to get the Camels to improve as the season wore on without any coaching experience except for a short stint earlier this year coaching youngsters at a club.
The Camels were 5-7 on Sept. 7. They could have hung their heads at their inability to get over the hump under another new coach. Instead, they won 14 of their next 20 matches. They have won nine of their last 11 heading into Monday’s 7 p.m. state tournament first-round showdown at home against 9th Region champion Notre Dame Academy.
“She knows what she’s doing,” Thorwarth said of Freppon. “After so much adversity, it’s so amazing to get really good advice.”
It turns out that Freppon’s unique upbringing that had her surrounded by family members who were high school athletes, college athletes, high school coaches and middle school coaches armed her with an enviable amount of knowledge, especially with regard to volleyball. It also gave her an incredible amount of insight, the accumulation of which began when she was a preschooler while tagging along with relatives to sporting events.
If people view life through the prism of their own experiences, Freppon brings to the Camels’ volleyball team a wide range of possibilities.
Get ready…
Her grandfather, Tom Freppon Sr., played basketball at Xavier University. Her father, Tom Freppon Jr., played basketball at Thomas More. Her mom, Kimi Freppon, played volleyball at Thomas More. Sister Kaela, played volleyball at Xavier and Northern Kentucky University. Brother Seth, played soccer at Mount St. Joseph.
One of Mikah Freppon’s aunts is former Northern Kentucky University basketball and softball player Christie McDonald, the longtime former NewCath girls basketball coach. McDonald’s husband, Jeff, played tennis at NKU. They have three children who played college sports including former NKU basketball great Drew McDonald, who is Mikah Freppon’s cousin. Drew has one sister who played college volleyball.
Another one of Freppon’s aunts played volleyball at Western Kentucky. She has a son who played college basketball and two daughters who played college volleyball. Another aunt played volleyball at Midway College. Yet another aunt, her mom’s twin sister, played volleyball at Thomas More and has three children who played college sports, including two daughters who played volleyball.
Got it?
With that kind of company, Mikah Freppon has had ample opportunity to become familiar with the many nuanced aspects of competitive sports, much of which transcends volleyball. She has had a lifetime, albeit a short one, to crystallize those learnings into something workable as a coach.
“I was new to this, but I have that volleyball knowledge from college, high school, my family and from reading books,” the coach said. “I’ve never not been around volleyball. I learned so much about volleyball I.Q. in college and gained an understanding of how to play and coach. I redshirted my first year at Lewis and watched an all-American. I listened to really good coaches. I Iearned a lot without actually being a coach.”
Freppon struggled with her confidence as a sophomore volleyball player at Lewis. A team captain helped her get out of the funk. It put Freppon on a better path. Freppon used the experience to aid her Camels in two ways. She helped the young Hamilton battle her way out of a similar confidence crisis. She also used the experience to help make her seniors better leaders, a dynamic that had a trickle-down effect which impacted every player on the roster.
“Before every game, coach has us do visualization, what we’re going to do, and we visualize winning,” said Thorwarth, a co-captain along with Crowl. “That really works, especially for the young players. It puts us in the right mindset. We didn’t do that before. It’s the background things like that which makes us better.”
And there’s this. Mikah Freppon is very smart, dutifully patient and more than capable of drawing upon myriad experiences to become a successful head coach. She was a three-time recipient of the Brother David Delahanty Award given to student-athletes for academic excellence during her five-year stay at Lewis. She is a special education teacher at Campbell County High School. She put together an enthusiastic volleyball coaching staff to help guide her Camels. She put in place a plan she believed would breathe life back into a proud program that had fallen on hard times, and it worked.
“It’s amazing how far we’ve come,” Thorwarth said. “The difference between last year and this year is incredible.”
