After spending a year as an assistant coach at Kirtland, Ricky Sanders has taken over the volleyball program heading into the 2023 season.
Sanders, a 1986 Collinwood High School graduate, previously served as an assistant coach for the Hornets in 2022 after an 11-year stint at St. Joseph Academy and stops at Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Euclid High School.
“I’m very excited,” Sanders said of taking on his first head coaching gig. “I didn’t know it was going to be so soon, but I’m happy to take the position.”
Newcomer guided the Hornets to three Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division titles in four years—there was no championship awarded in 2020 due to COVID despite the Hornets finishing first in the league—and back-to-back district championships.
The Hornets did graduate two four-year starters in Ava Golem and Natalie Glowe and another player who was dominant at the net in Marissa Carmosino, but Kirtland does return half of its starting rotation and a handful of others with varsity experience.
Sanders’ familiarity with that group of returning players should help his transition into his new role.
“I know the girls and I was with them all last season and we put them in a summer league this season, so we’ve gotten to know each other a lot,” he said. “The girls are excited and so am I. I think this is going to be a really good season.”
Graduating a pair of dominant hitters has forced Sanders to retool his offense a bit. He does have nine seniors on the roster, leaving him confident his players will quickly settle into a new offense.
“We’re going to be missing that one big outside hitter and due to height—we’re going to average about 5-8 on average height–so we’re going to change our strategy to speed and execution over having that one big hitter we have to rely on. It will be hard for people to key on us so we’ll be spreading it out a lot.”
Serving as an assistant coach for the Hornets last season helped Sanders to familiarize himself with the CVC Valley Division, which will help him to prepare for a run at another conference title.
“I’ve scouted those teams and know who they are,” he said. “Berkshire has been our biggest rival and so we’re going to try to duplicate what we did against them last season.”
Sanders played high school volleyball at Collinwood and then became an EMS and has worked for the City of Cleveland for 29 years. He also coaches a JO team at Force Sports.
