By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

We reported that Barb South was stepping down as ACGC’s head volleyball coach to focus on spending more time with her family and to concentrate on her counseling job. South, after helping with graduation and awards night, agreed to speak with us about her time as the ACGC volleyball coach.

“I have absolutely enjoyed my time here at ACGC as a volleyball coach, and we’ve been successful, which has been fun to be a part of that program,” South said.

South joined the staff as an assistant for the 2021-2022 season. The head coaching position opened up the following year. She was offered the spot and decided to take it. The team, as South said, has been successful. Since she joined the staff, ACGC has a record of 80-50. As head coach, that record is 57-37, a considerable margin above .500.

“It’s just always a joy to work with these girls, no matter what age. The game is fun, and just seeing them progress in their skills and their love of the game is probably my favorite thing,” South said.

Those skills certainly progressed under South. By the end of last season, her players racked up a considerable number of awards. Shay Lemke and Stella Largent were selected to the 2024 IGCA All-District team. Lemke and Largent were named First Team All-Conference, with Largent being a unanimous selection. Camdyn Richter was named Second Team All-Conference. Becca Littler and Addison Laughery were named Honorable Mention All-Conference.

“I’d say some favorite moments are all the wins we had here at home. I don’t think we lost more than a handful of games here over those years, and that always is fun to walk away knowing that you had a lot of success in front of your home crowd. I’d say those trips to the regional final were absolutely fun,” South said.

In her four years on staff, ACGC made the regional final twice and the quarterfinal twice.

“The one game that really stands out is when we won the game at home (vs. Southwest Valley, 3-1) before we went to the regional finals, not this year, but the year before,” South said. “Just the atmosphere. There were so many people here. The crowd was loud, and our girls actually lost the first set and then came out and swept the rest of it to win. None of us ever felt after that first set like we were in trouble. We knew we were a good team and that we were going to finish out with that win. That was just such a fun memory. The kids were dancing and having fun afterwards.”

We asked South to provide some advice for who is eventually chosen to replace her. She said the key will be communication.

“Communicate with your players and make sure they understand your system and how you want them to give their best effort and have a good attitude on the floor. Be the leader out there and communicate with them, as well as communicating with the parents. I think what we’ve had success with is that we’ve had open communication with our parents, and organization always takes a big part of head coaching jobs. Not being afraid to ask others is a big part of that. Ask former coaches or your assistants for advice, and be willing to take that and work together with these amazing young ladies, and it will be another successful season,” South said.

South leaves ACGC’s volleyball in a solid position to pick up right where it left off. With returning athletes having plenty of postseason success and experience, plus some coming off of award-winning seasons, ACGC is poised to have another successful season. South added how she is looking forward to coming back and watching from the stands to cheer on her former players.