2024 Team is Well Rounded and Ready For the Challenge
Stephanie Poe and husband Cody Burgiss have two children. Knox Burgiss who is 6 and Paxxton Burgiss who is 5. This is Stephanie's 9th season at Rhea County High School. 8th as the head coach. Stephanie graduated from Walker Valley in 2010. She played volleyball at Bryan College and graduated from Bryan in 2014. Stephanie is currently a World History Teacher at Rhea County High School.
When did you get your start in coaching?
"I started coaching in 2014 for Scenic City Volleyball club out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I began at Rhea County during the 2017 season. I coached Rhea Middle School for the 2017 season as well. I have been coaching at C4 Volleyball Club since 2021."
Talk about this year's team.
"We have 26 girls spread across our freshmen, jv, and varsity teams. We moved up 50 spots in the state rankings last season and am looking forward to continuing that growth. We lost 5 starters from last year but our lower classmen are filling that gap and really pushing to make this a tremendous year. I have said it a million times to them this season, "we are young and hungry, which is a great spot to be in." We have two seniors this season, our setter, Melissa Watt, and our RS/DS Erin Stolz. Our key returners from last season are Erin Stolz, Kamryn Swafford, Kirra Garmany, Brinley Thurman, and Melissa Watt. The bulk of our varsity roster consists of sophomores, which is exciting."
What are your team goals for the season?
"Our goals are to improve every day and to be coachable. We have already seen great improvement since day 1 of preseason. I really thought this would be a rebuilding year, but with how practices and games have been going, I believe we can have another really successful season. We had a team camp at MTSU this summer. Varsity placed 2nd in gold out of 24 teams. , JV won the gold JV division, and our Freshmen team won 1st place in the JV silver division. "
Who are your assistant coaches?
"We have two new assistants this season. Hayley Johnson will be JV coach. She is currently DCS volleyball coach as well as a travel coach for A5. She is very knowledgeable about the game and committed to our players. Celie Berry will be our freshmen coach. It is exciting because she was a sophomore on the team the year I came. It has been rewarding watching her move into the role as coach. She is also the middle school coach at Spring City."
Who is your biggest rival?
"Our biggest rival in our district is Walker Valley. We have consistently taken them throughout my time here but we split with them in our preseason Choo Choo team camp at Ooltewah High School. We are younger than them but I know the girls really want to get past them to move on to the Region Tournament again."
What is the strength of this year's team?
"Our strength this season is solid all the way around. We still have our libero from last season as well as two of our key hitters. I really feel like the improvement of the hitters so far makes us really strong in the front row."
"Our team motto this season is "Set the Standard" We are the team that comes in early, stays late, picks up trash, lifts our teammates up, and are supportive to one another. I tell them all the time that the little things will always turn into the big things. This season at a team camp in Knoxville, my varsity team came to the JV sessions to cheer them on and help them by giving them some advice. That meant the world to me, especially when I didn't tell them to do so. They stepped up to lead and that is the standard of the program this season."