Back with the Pack: AHS returns to her old volleyball team as the head coach
Published 6:05 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Charlie Cunningham makes a dig in practice for the Austin volleyball team at a summer workout in Packer Gym recently. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Austin head coach Nichelle Guillaume leads the Packer volleyball team in a summer workout Monday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Haleigh Holman shows her enthusiasm during a summer workout in Packer Gym recently. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Nora Sand returns a serve for Austin. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Austin grad Nichelle Guillaume has returned to the Packers as the head volleyball coach. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
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After a 15 year hiatus, Nichelle Guillaume is officially back with the Packer volleyball program.
The former Packer setter played on the last Austin volleyball team with a winning record.
“It feels really good to be back in red. I remember after my last season here in 2008, I said I wanted to come back and coach here some day,” Guillaume said. “Then you start getting older and you don’t think it will happen. When it opened up, I had to take it. It just kind of aligned because I had just resigned from (Rochester) Century and I was just going to kind of be a mom for a while, but when it opened up there was no way I could say no.”
Guillaume spent the last six years coaching against the Packers for Big Nine foe Rochester Century. Before going to Century, Guillaume was the head volleyball coach at Gale-Ettrick-Trempelau while still attending the University Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Guillaume, a 2009 AHS grad, is hoping to help the program back to its winning ways. Austin has a young, upbeat roster and it is coming off one of its better seasons in recent years as the team went 12-15 overall last season.
“I want us to be a really good volleyball team, but also conditioned,” Guillaume said. “The team that finishes in the fifth set is usually the team that wins and we’ve been doing some volleyball stuff and some conditioning. They’ve also been doing captain’s practices at the track, which I think is great. I’m really optimistic and we’ve had a really full gym at these summer practices when they don’t have to be here.”
Austin setter Haleigh Holman recalls playing Rochester Century last year and she remembered that the Panthers were well known for going the distance. She is hoping the Packers can match that intensity as they look to focus on more improvements this season.
“Century was always the most conditioned team, so it’s cool to have (Guillaume) come here and now maybe we can be that team that finishes strong in the fifth set,” Holman said. “We really do appreciate that she’s very disciplined, very on top of it and very skillful. We like that she knows our turf and our practices have been super fun and uplifting.”
