When it comes to high school volleyball programs in the state of Indiana, none is on a higher level right now than New Castle.
The Trojans have won three consecutive state championships — two in Class 3A and the latest in 4A. They’ve gone 104-12 over those past three years.
With that act to follow, Columbus East coach Stacie Pagnard introduced herself as the new coach at New Castle via Twitter on Thursday.
“Obviously growing up in that area and knowing what New Castle volleyball is all about was huge,” she said. “Then, it’s just getting back to my family to where I was raised.”
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Pagnard, who has gone back to her maiden surname of Baldwin, helped lead Yorktown to the 3A state title as a player in 2001. She went on to play four years at Ball State, earning All-Mid-American Conference honors.
After college, she spent nine years as the head coach at Westfield, leading the Shamrocks to a final four appearance in 4A in 2012. She has been at East the past five years, going 94-76 with three sectional titles and one regional crown.
The Olympians went 28-9 and won a sectional title in 2015, then followed with a 26-12 record and another sectional crown in 2016. Then came two down years — 10-23 in 2017 and 10-22 in 2018 — before bouncing back to go 20-10 with a sectional title last fall.
“I’m very thankful for my time at East,” she said. “I’ve built great relationships with the players and families that I’ve coached. I know that without of doubt, East is going to be highly successful in the next few years. They have great coaches and great players, and they’re set up to do great things.”
In 2018, she started the Columbus Volleyball Academy, along with former Columbus North coach Caitlin Greiner. The club’s 14-and-under team was runner-up in last summer’s AAU Nationals.
Baldwin has been living in Yorktown and coaching in the Munciana Volleyball program this spring. She landed a job teaching physical education at New Castle beginning this fall and plans to develop a feeder program like she did with Columbus Volleyball Academy.
The Trojans lost two-time Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year Melani Shaffmaster, who is headed to Minnesota. But they return her sister Mabrey, who has committed to North Carolina, along with SEC recruits Laila Smith (Alabama) and Bailey Cox (Georgia).
“They have a really talented senior class with two of most dominant players in the state,” Baldwin said. “You’re losing a big piece, but there’s a lot of good pieces still there, so we’re hoping to put something together.”
With former assistant Quin Shoultz taking over for Greiner at North, both Columbus teams will have new head coaches this fall. East athletics director Pete Huse is working on finding someone to fill his new vacancy.
“When we can start bringing athletes back in and working with them, we would want to have someone,” Huse said. “Our goal would be July at the latest so that person would have time to get established. Volleyball is something we take pride in at Columbus East, and we certainly do not want to take a step backwards.”
Baldwin said coaching her most recent team in 2019 was her favorite memory of her time with the Olympians.
“Having some down years and struggling to get our feet back underneath us, they really bought into the team and what it means to be a great teammate,” she said. “Most of them are still there. That team means the world to me. These were great teammates and just a blessing to be around.”
