St. Charles North junior defensive specialist Alex Seavey served notice of her sprawling style in her first varsity girls volleyball match last month. Her 12 digs helped the North Stars defeat York in three games, and she happily has hit the floor many times since. Sharing a first name with two other teammates, Seavey continues to carve out a presence as North prepares for the postseason with interim coach Doug Foster, who’s filling in for Lindsey Hawkins (maternity leave). Seavey caught up with Kane County Chronicle sports reporter Kevin Druley for this week’s edition of the Weekend Chit-chat, and discussed the team dynamic as well as her quick adjustments to the varsity. The following is an edited transcript:
The team is around .500 in the conference, but there still are some matches left. What’s the outlook?
We’re just really hoping to move forward. We’re working on our team chemistry and been doing a lot of bonding and really working on bonding with everyone.
Coach Hawkins still comes around the team now that she’s had her baby. What has she said to the team?
She said that she’ll be back by postseason. She’s just been watching as one of the fans because she can’t really do anything. She has kept a distance and let the other coaches take us under their wing. ... We definitely knew she’d be having her baby soon when we got into the season, so we knew about this arrangement with coach Foster.
Talk about the team’s strengths.
The team chemistry is definitely a strength, and we have a really big block up at the net, too. So that really can help our defense in the back, having confidence in the people in front of them.
Along with you, there’s Alex Busch and Alex Stone. What do your teammates do to set you apart?
Yeah, it’s crazy. We have three Alexes on our team now that I’ve come on to the varsity, so so it can get confusing. So we usually all go by both names. We can’t do the initial since me and Alex Stone both start with “S.”
How have you liked your first [several] varsity matches?
I really like it. I like the intensity and how every game matters and every game counts.
How often are you asked to explain the difference between a libero and a defensive specialist?
A libero goes in for more rotations than a DS. Alex Busch is our libero, and I’m at DS. ... Everyone always asks what a libero is and we just tell them it’s someone who wears a different-color shirt.
Volleyball is king in this area. What do you remember about following high school matches as a kid? What’s in like to be in that role now?
Especially in middle school, me and my friends would want to go into games and cheer people on. It’s crazy now, I feel like I was just part of the freshman girls team at North going in to watch the varsity, and now it’s me out there. ... It’s been a great experience and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.
