In her first season as the Alpena High team’s volleyball coach Stacey McEwen likes the Wildcats’ potential.

It’s easy to see why. Of the 13 players on Alpena’s roster, three are seniors, seven are juniors and three are underclassmen. That gives the Wildcats plenty of time to develop chemistry this season, but also gives them plenty of experience returning in the future.

“I’m looking forward to that. We have three seniors with us and then we have a lot of juniors, a couple sophomores and a freshman,” McEwen said. “Not only that, I look at my JV and freshman teams and I couldn’t be happier with the talent we have in the program.”

Alpena’s three seniors are middle hitters Katie Mack and Shelby Seaver and defensive specialist Jordan Zielaskowski. Alpena’s huge junior class consists of libero Tori Gentry, setter Allison Precord, outside hitter Elizabeth Lozen and Kaitlyn Schultz, defensive specialists Cheyenne Perkins and Emily Dickinson and outside/middle hitter Emma Gentry.

Outside hitter/defensive specialists Madison Murphy and Rachel McDonald are the team’s two sophomores and outside hitter Maggie Clark is Alpena’s lone freshman.

Mack and Seaver provide Alpena with a solid one-two punch up front and have already shown off some solid play in several of Alpena’s matches. Zielaskowski has been an important part of Alpena’s defense as well and all three have drawn praise from McEwen for their leadership.

“One thing I can say is that our underclassmen that came on couldn’t have been luckier to get these three seniors as their seniors on the team because they are the three nicest girls,” McEwen said. “They help so much with keeping everybody getting along and being on the same page.”

Gentry, Clark and Schultz have also been among those who have shown off their hitting skills up front so far this season and at the heart of it all has been Precord. As setter, Precord is counted on to put Alpena’s hitters in spots to be successful and McEwen has been pleased what she’s seen from her setter thus far.

“She’s not coming off the court and we’re pushing her,” McEwen said. “She’s working her butt off and we’re pushing here because we want her to be that much stronger for next year.”

“She keeps a pretty level head and that’s one of the reasons she’s so good in that role.”

Alpena has already been tested early in the year, having played Grosse Pointe South at its home invite and participating in the Bay City Mitten Tournament. While the Wildcats have struggled at times, they’ve also shown tremendous potential in other matches. Monday’s match against Ogemaw Heights showed off the Wildcats’ ability to spread the wealth offensively, but it also showed their solid all-around play with good defense and good serving.

It’s matches like these that McEwen is hoping to see a lot more of as the season continues.

“I think we played a lot better than how we’ve been playing. I think we finally hit a spot where we’re coming together as a team and we’re building chemistry which I like,” McEwen said.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.