August 22, 2012 7:00 a.m. LINESVILLE — The gymnasium at the new Conneaut Area Senior High School has undergone some signifcant changes over the last couple of weeks.

The floor has been sanded down, repainted and sealed, and the orange stripe on the wall above the bleachers has been painted gray.

But there are a few things that remain unchanged. The old scoreboards are still in place, so is the orange padding at each end of the gymnasium. And all of the banners acknowledging the past history of Linesville athletics continue to adorn the walls, including the new orange one recognizing the Lady Lions’ 2011 state championship in girls volleyball.

Sooner or later, though, all of those things will be removed as well.

“If it comes down I’m taking it home,” said Conneaut head coach Tim Schleicher, who led the Lady Lions to the Class A state title last season. “I’m going to hang it in my basement.”

The thing is, that banner hasn’t been up long. It wasn’t presented to the team until late into the winter sports season. So the team has had little time to enjoy it. Turns out, CASH has a pretty good solution to the problem. When the sign finally comes down, the hope is there will be a nice new shiny one to replace it.

That’s right. New players. New colors. Same attitude.

“We discussed how last year everyone in the gym had the same frame of mind,” Schleicher said, “how it was the last season and how they wanted to make that season count. Now this is our first season and we have the first chance to put a banner on these walls.

“We want to put the first one up instead of volleyball being the last one to put one up. That’s the goal to be the first to accomplish something for our school.”

It’s still premature to decide whether or not the Lady Eagles will accomplish that feat, but the personnel is certainly in place to give it a run; and a lot of it.

One of the differences for Schleicher this season with the merge of Linesville, Conneaut Valley and Conneaut Lake is numbers. Last season, Schleicher had 15 girls on the Lady Lions’ roster — 14 on varsity.

This year, he had between 35 and 40 players in open gyms throughout the summer and 38 in tryouts. After cuts on Friday, the Lady Eagles have a roster of 28 — 14 each on varsity and junior varsity.

“It’s a big difference,” Schleicher said. “It’s a little bit of a logistical challenge … But as far as they are concerned, they came in with an open mind and were excited. They came in looking forward instead of backwards.”

Here’s the big question, though. How are players from a state championship team welcoming former rivals?

In the opening minutes of practice on Monday, three of CASH’s star players stood together and were chatting. One was the 2011 Meadville Tribune Co-Player of the Year Challen Litwiler from the state champion Lady Lions. One was Conneaut Lake star Hailey Lowery. And the other was talented outside hitter Kristen Baker from Conneaut Valley.

“From the first day at practice it was not a problem,” Baker said. “We’ve really come together.”

“Things are going extremely well,” Schleicher said. “I’ve been very pleased with how they are coming along. There is a lot of chemistry already. One of the big things we said is we wanted to be sure we came together as a team and I think we’ve done that. We’ve had a good summer.

“There is no separation. You look at these kids … You know they haven’t set foot in school together and you can’t tell. They’re really getting along well and everyone is learning. They’re making strides every day, which is good.”



Super glue

A key for the Eagles in their transition was finding the right player to take on the role of setter.

The Eagles have proven hitters in Litwiler, Baker, Darian Bodnar, Allison Snider and Brittany Shidemantle to name a few as well as defensive stars Kimmy Litwin and Kristen Laird. But there was a question mark coming into the summer as to who would take over at setter.

“Your setter has to be the one that keeps the team together,” Schleicher said. “They have to be able to make decisions not based on who went to school where but based on what is going to get it done.”

In the end, the appointment went to Lowery.

“That was a major concern of mine coming in was finding that player who is going to lead this team and this mixture of players together as the Eagles and nothing else,” Schleicher said. “And (Lowery) has been really, really successful of that.”

“It’s a new opportunity for all of them,” he continued. “It’s new. It’s fresh. They’re the first ones. It’s a clean slate. I think they look around the gym and they are excited with who they are playing with. It’s just been real positive.

“We’re excited.”