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J-M volleyball all in the family
Prozy hopes
father’s knowledge
will help tonight
By Jim Flick
NORTH JACKSON
Not only will the Jackson-Milton High School volleyball team pursue school honor in a Division IV regional semifinal tonight at Solon High School, the team will seek to continue family traditions.
The Blue Jays are coached by Sue Prozy, who is the daughter of current athletic director Pat Keney and Jackson-Milton’s former coach.
In fact, Prozy played for her father in 1986, which was her senior year at Jackson-Milton and his first year as coach.
In 1989, Keney coached the Jackson-Milton volleyball team when it finished as runner-up in the state tournament.
Keney coached the team until 2002, when Prozy took over. Like her father, Prozy has guided the team to success. The Blue Jays won the Tri-County League this season, their seventh consecutive league championship.
But the Keney-Prozy relationship is not the only family tradition in play with the volleyball squad. One of the players on the 1989 state runner-up squad was Tiffany Foster, who is the mother of Jackson-Milton senior Rachael Obradovich, a key member of this year’s team.
The regional tournament, Prozy said, “means a little something extra to Rachael because she wants to repeat the success her mother experienced.”
In Thursday’s district final against Wellsville, Obradovich was credited with 16 digs and 17 points, both team highs, although she shared the team lead in points with junior Madison Tomaino.
Prozy said she sought her father’s help in preparing for the volleyball team’s match tonight against Kidron Central Catholic (24-2). “It’s nice to have his experience,” she said.
On Saturday, Keney joined Prozy on a scouting trip, as they both attended Kidron’s district final.
This week, Keney joined the team in the gym, and Prozy said her father helped prepare the team for the tough matches that lie ahead. “I told him to go old-school on them,” she said.
Keney and Prozy had the net covered with a tarp so players couldn’t see the ball coming at them until it cleared the net, an exercise designed to improve the players’ reaction times.
“We have been doing speed work all week,” Prozy said.
This is the second consecutive season the Blue Jays have advanced to the regional tournament. She said the players seemed nervous.
“This year, we’re tougher mentally,” Prozy said. “I hope we come to the gym tomorrow and play our A game. When they play their A game, they’re tough.”
Keney agrees.
“All teams at this level are good,” he said. “They all won their districts. That’s why they’re here. It’s just a matter of who shows up and plays.”