Southeast Missourian volleyball player of the year: Petty excelled in multiple roles

Leopold junior Caitlin Petty gets some confused looks when she responds to questions about what position she plays on the volleyball court.

"I tell them that I'm a setter and a middle hitter, and people are like 'What?' said Petty, putting a tone of disbelief in the question at the end of her statement.

In reality, she's much more than either of those two labels suggest.

Petty set in Leopold's up-tempo offense for two of the six rotations on the court this season, allowing her to play defense and attack from the back row for a single rotation. She played the middle hitter and blocker position for her three front-row rotations, though she was capable of attacking at any spot along the net. She also received serve during two rotations and of course served for her team as well.

She extended beyond an all-rotation player to an all-skill player, a rarity in the game, and is the Southeast Missourian player of the year after leading her team to a second-place state finish in Class 1.

"She had a huge role," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "Not one player can take care of the team, it takes everybody out there, but Caitlin was our go-to girl. You knew she was going to hit the ball -- give her the ball, she was going to take care of it. When she set the ball you knew she was going to put it in the right place. She was just a huge role -- a team leader and had a lot on her shoulders. She had to carry a lot this year because she was expected to do well after being a starter on varsity since she was a freshman."

Davis has coached multiple all-state players and a Divison I recruit during her 10 years coaching at her alma mater, but she's never had a player exactly like Petty.

"They had their roles," Davis said of past players who excelled. "Either they were a setter when they were in the back row and a hitter in the front row, but front row she serve receives and she also hits. She does all of it."

Petty finished the season with 354 kills and 315 assists to go along with 129 digs, 49 blocks and 30 aces.

2013 All-Missourian Volleyball - Caitlin Petty - Leopold High School (Laura Simon)

"I like it all, but my favorite part is getting a block because that's just something -- it's OK to get to a good dig and a great set, but getting a block doesn't happen often," Petty said. "That's your chance to shut the team down to tell you the truth, so that's an awesome feeling."

She didn't always like the thought of doing it all. Petty said it was the eighth grade when Davis turned her into a setter while Davis remembered it being during the seventh grade, but both were sure Petty wasn't originally happy about it.

"I started off hitting and then late eighth grade year she had me setting, which I was not a fan of at all to begin with because I was awful at it," Petty said. "And then I started to practice more and to pick it up. I started getting better at it, and I realized it's something that I really like to do."

Davis said it was Petty's touch that led her add setting to her assignments.

"Her hands," Davis said. "She had such good hands, and she's such a smart player. She was in seventh grade, and I just wanted to work with her on setting and all around -- setting and hitting and defense. She just had really pretty hands, and she just knew the game even in seventh grade."

Although her powerful kills from all over the court are likely what resonate most with people who watched her play this season, setting is likely the future for the 5-foot-9 Petty.

"I mostly say that I'm a setter because I think that I'll go out as a setter because I don't have the height that schools are looking for, so I'll say setter," Petty said.

"I love setting now. It's just something -- I don't know. I just like it. Hitting is of course a thrill and stuff, but setting you kind of run the court, so that's good."

Petty's ability to both run the Wildcat's offense and see the other side of the court is part of what makes her a special player.

"She reads the floor. She sees the floor, and she knows where to put the ball," said Davis, who repeatedly uses the word "smart" whenever she talks about Petty.

Like most every good player, Petty constantly assesses where the other team's defense is playing, which players will be attempting to block her as well as where and how she should attack the ball.

She said her goal is to "make sure I can hit the holes when they're supposed to be hit at the moment -- make sure I can do that when needed. So hit the holes that are open, and see that it's open while I'm doing whatever I'm doing."

Leopold junior Caitlin Petty hits a tip in the first set of the Class 1 state championship match. (Adam Vogler)

Davis and the Leopold players devoted a lot of time in offseason to improving their offense by quickening their sets and adding variety to their attack, but to do that they first had to improve their passing.

"We've been working gradually on it, and we worked a lot on it this year -- quickening it up because we don't have 6-foot girls," Davis said. "We've got the shorter hitters, so in order to move our offense and beat the block we knew we had to quicken it up a little bit and so we worked a lot on it. And they weren't scared to try things. They knew how it was going to help them, and this group was very -- they wanted it and they wanted to learn different things and to get better with it. They weren't scared to try new things."

Playing without fear and focusing only on "taking care of business," as Davis put it, on the court was important for a team that was upset in the district semifinals a season earlier, breaking a decade-long string of district titles for the Wildcats.

"We were determined," Petty said. "We weren't going to do the same thing as last year, and so we were determined. There was a lot of talk about -- just in the school in general -- about what happened last year, so we were just determined that we were going to push through and make sure this was ours."

The Wildcats won the district title in dominating fashion led by Petty's eight kills and six blocks. They defeated St. Vincent, the team that ended their season prematurely a year earlier, 25-12, 25-18.

"The year before I call it the deer-in-the-headlights look," Davis said. "They kind of froze up. All that flashes back, and I just wanted them to be relaxed. They came out and just played amazing. And then in [the state quarterfinal] against Lesterville, that third set they got behind and they didn't stop. They just were so determined and their hearts were in it, and they just pushed and last point of the game it was like, 'Oh my gosh, they did it.' I think about it now, and it still gives me goose bumps because these girls -- their chemistry and their work ethic and just who they are -- they are just amazing.'"

It's the team's state sendoff that Petty remembers most fondly.

"Our bus ride when we left -- that's the first thing that pops into my head -- the atmosphere of everybody sending us off," Petty said. "The boys painted our bus, and they had signs inside of our bus. That's one thing that it gives me goose bumps just to think about just because it was such an amazing experience with all the support we got."

The crowd is what stuck out to her about final four play.

"We watched the tape from 2007 [final four], so we kind of knew going into there, and I've been to a few other state tournaments," Petty said. "Just the crowd, that's one thing that was so different. You'd get a kill or you'd get a point at all and the crowd would just go crazy. It was so loud. That's one thing that was different. I didn't think it was going to be that loud because we're used to coming from such a small gym and it's loud anyway, but it was still loud in the Show Me Center."

While the Wildcats didn't leave the Show Me Center with the state championship, Petty's name will be on the walls of Leopold's gym forever as a member of a Leopold final four team.

"It's been my dream since I've been a little kid because I've went to the state championships when other teams," Petty said. "I know a lot of us were always like, 'We want to be that team. We want to be those girls with the names on the walls to have everybody come and support us.' It's just an awesome feeling because now that we are I still can't even -- there's no words to even say it because that's been all our dreams since we were tiny."

Davis said there is "no doubt" that Petty will play in college, but her senior year is first and their remains room for improvement on defense and attacking from different positions in the front row. Davis described Petty's desire to get better and learn as "unreal."

"She's very humble, and she's always encouraging the other players -- a very team player," Davis said. "She knows that she's going to have to have a pass and set to get a kill or in order to get a good assist, she's going to have to have a good pass. She's a very humble player, handles pressure very well and she loves a challenge."