2 weeks Ago
Webb City head volleyball coach Rhonda Lawrence has been able to coach three sisters from the Crane family. First Sage, then Sophia and now the youngest, Savannah. The elder two were both liberos.
Savannah wanted her own job; she ended up being a setter instead. "When Savannah first got into high school ..
. she didn't want to just be a libero. Savannah's personality was a little different, and she was a little more feisty," Lawrence said.
"She wanted to be able to hit and set and do all these things." Crane is a fitting name for a setter. A crane moves material vertically and horizontally to its desired place at a worksite.
A volleyball player does the same from the setter position. The setter will get under the ball and with both hands meet the ball as it comes down and try to stop the spin of the ball from the pass and loft it into the air for the hitter to leap up and spike it down into the opposing team's defense. Sometimes that requires the setter to push it high in the air and across the court, depending on who they're setting the ball up to.
It could be an outside hitter, the middle or even a back-row hitter. So you get both the vertical and horizontal movement when the setter moves that key material, the ball, to where it needs to be. Right away, Savannah Crane was the No.
2 option behind setter Kyah Sanborn during her freshman year. Then Sanborn graduated, and Crane stepped into that role as a sophomore. Now, in her junior year, she's shown a lot of development to her coach.
"She's really matured this year in terms of her IQ and knowing where to set and when and to who," Lawrence said. "Obviously Jaeli (Rutledge) has to take a lot of our offense, but spreading it out to the others because they have to be respected because they can rip off some nights too." That array of offensive weapons goes from Rutledge to Kirra Long, Mia Lenker, Jaylee Van Becelaere and Adalyn Maxwell.
Crane knows each one's strengths and has developed an understanding of how to use them based on where each one is placed on the floor with the rotations. "I can count on all of them to get a kill when we have a free ball sent over. They all have a lot of weapons and their volleyball IQ is really well," Crane said.
Lawrence noted that a setter can get lost in the midst of a volleyball team, but she said the skill of the setter is "vital" to team success. The Cardinals are 26-8-1 this year and are in pursuit of a fourth straight district championship and Crane's role is key to that happening. (They play for a spot in the championship Friday, and results were not available at press time.
If they win, they're in the title game Saturday at 1 p.m.) Lawrence noted that the opposition has to plan for a setter who can play multiple roles like Crane.
"She can block pretty well and swing when she needs to. She's a setter that they have to worry about and talk about in practice," Lawrence said. Crane talked about the team's desire to win a fourth championship in a row this weekend and taking it even further.
"We really want it this year. We're looking for a four-peat. And then hopefully going back to state (semifinals) because some of the girls off the bench that went to state (semifinals in 2022) got to experience it and want to be back there," she said.
The sisters are daughters of Stephen and Stephanie Crane. Stephanie Crane played volleyball and was a setter herself. "It's nice to finally have one of the girls be a setter because I'm familiar with that position, unlike the libero," Stephanie Crane said.
"I know what a challenging job it is to get to every second ball and she does way better than I ever did." With the oldest, Sage Crane, playing volleyball, that meant Sophie and Savannah Crane were around it from an early age. Sage Crane was a senior when Sophie Crane was a freshman, and the two actually got to be on the varsity court together one time.
"Sage's senior year — Sophie's freshman year — I did get them on the floor together one time just to see that. It was cool for the family," Lawrence said. Now, the family is enjoying the last Crane on the Webb City volleyball team but will get one more season even after 2024 ends.
"We try to live life savoring the moments and seize every opportunity so it's been a real blessing with all three girls and their age difference, they've all gotten to play with one sibling," Stephanie Crane added. "Where Savvy and Soph got to play the most. "I think that's been the most fun part is them getting to play together.
And her older sisters are good teammates now. They're good sounding boards. .
.. They're good mentors for her.
" Sophie and Savannah Crane played all of last year together with the senior at libero and the sophomore as a setter. "Once I got to play with Sophie, that was special, in my own words," Savannah Crane said. "That was really cool.
" Lawrence added this about the three girls: "It was nice to have that athleticism of the family over the years and it was a huge impact on our success, no doubt." The Crane girls aren't just members of the team who have come and gone. Each one will be remembered by Lawrence as one of the best to grace her court inside the Cardinal Dome.
Sage Crane made her impact throughout her career with her ability to dig the ball. "Sage was probably the best lib I'd had at that point," Lawrence said. And then little sister replaced her.
"When Sage graduated, Sophie rolled into that lib position and rocked it. Sophie took it to another level. To be a three-time all-state player, it was just like, 'Wow.
' Sage was really good and Sophie was even better," Lawrence said. Now you have this year's junior setter in Savannah Crane, and Lawrence already puts her in the company of two of her best setters. Abby Brownfield is one of the best at Webb City during Lawrence's time, and after that, it was Sanborn.
Sanborn went over 2,000 career assists and has the most ever for a Cardinal. But Crane is already over 1,000, and Lawrence says she'll go beyond 2,000 early next season..
