Several high school volleyball coaches in Bartholomew County are coaching with the Hope Area Volleyball Club (HAVOC). They include, front row from left, Columbus Christian assistant Mallory Maguire, Columbus North assistant Emma Totten, Columbus East head coach Alison Eagleman, Hauser head coach Jeff Case, North head coach Jenna Ortega, North assistant Amanda Doss; and back row, Columbus Christian head coach Savannah Spurgeon, HAVOC boys coach Kailey Smith, Hauser assistant Christian Case and North assistant Gregg Greathouse.
Submitted photo
As the Hope Area Volleyball Club (HAVOC) hosted the Casey Cooley Memorial Tournament at Hauser this weekend, coaches from all four Bartholomew County high schools were coaching for the host club.
Hauser’s Jeff Case, Columbus North’s Jenna Ortega, Columbus East’s Alison Eagleman and Columbus Christian’s Savannah Spurgeon all are coaching with HAVOC, the county’s lone club volleyball organization.
“Bartholomew County has a strong history with the high schools, and all of the county coaches are coaching here,” Case said. “I think that’s pretty good that we can get together and share knowledge and help push each other and built our unity of volleyball. Certainly, each school has its own pride and its own culture, but also, we get together and have a county culture and pride. We’re just a community, a family.”
The county’s head coaches aren’t the only HAVOC from their schools. North varsity assistant Gregg Greathouse, freshman coach Amanda Doss and volunteer assistant Emma Totten have joined Ortega with HAVOC.
“My daughters just turned 10, and they’re just now old enough to play club, so we wanted them to stay together and grow in our sport,” Doss said.
Case’s son Christian, who is the Hauser JV coach, coaches with HAVOC. So does Mallory Maguire, the JV coach at Columbus Christian.
“I coach because my daughter plays, and she wanted to keep playing, and we wanted to keep her going year-round and they had a spot for a coach,” Maguire said.
Jeff Case founded HAVOC in 2003, the year after took over the Jets’ high school program. His daughter Erica Raisor and Ortega, both of which played for him at Hauser, took over as HAVOC co-directors in 2017.
Since then, the club has grown to 17 girls and one boys team, with at total of 24 coaches.
“It means a lot because these are not only people that we’ve played ball against and coached against, but coming together and being on the same team is pretty heartwarming that we can come together for the same mission,” Raisor said.
“I think it’s great because we’re all in this for the same reason,” Ortega added. “We all want these girls to get better and have a love for the game like we did growing up and still do, and just being able to have that camaraderie and friendship with all the coaches is probably my favorite part of it. These are my best friends. We work together weekly, and I see them more than my family.”
