By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
For the second time in as many weeks, Jacksonville has reached back into the past to fill a coaching need.
Former Jacksonville volleyball coach Melissa Reeves is returning to the program she led from 2006-07. Reeves, who has been in the Jacksonville teaching ranks, replaces Justine Rial, who stepped down after two seasons to focus on teaching.
“Honestly, I missed it,” Reeves said. “I missed the kids, and the opportunity came up. There are new, exciting things happening at the school and we have a new administration.
“We’re not going to look at the past, we’re looking to the future and all of the positives. We’ll just have to see; hopefully we’ll have a good mix.”
Earlier this month Jacksonville filled its football coaching job with former assistant Rick Russell.
Reeves took over for Phil Bradley in 2006 and led Jacksonville to the state tournament in both of her seasons. She also served as an assistant to girls varsity basketball coach Katrina Mimms during that time.
Reeves stepped down from volleyball after the 2007 season but remained on the teaching staff. The former Lady Red Devil Rial, fresh out of Williams Baptist College, took over in her first coaching job and also had a successful two-year run.
Rial announced in the spring she was stepping down as volleyball coach and assistant softball coach to pursue a master’s degree and national teaching certification.
Reeves dealt with unspecified health issues during her hiatus but said she is ready to return courtside.
The ninth-grade volleyball team also has a new coach in Tracy Duncan, who will be an assistant to Mimms in basketball and head coach of the girls varsity soccer program.
Duncan is from Dardanelle and comes to Jacksonville after three successful years at Cedarville High School, where she was head coach in girls basketball, track and both cross-country programs.
Duncan’s track and girls cross country teams finished third in the state meets last year and she is in her ninth year of coaching. Kendra Seauheaver will be Reeves’ assistant on the volleyball team.
Jacksonville still has to find an assistant for softball, but now has most of its coaching vacancies filled with school starting in August.
The freshman and varsity squads, and anyone interested in playing volleyball, will meet at the Jacksonville High School auxiliary gymnasium on Thursday from 8-11 a.m. The coaches are having a mandatory parents night at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the fieldhouse.
Reeves has met with her players once and introduced herself, but said she still has to get acquainted with everyone after her two-year hiatus.
“I talked to all the girls,” Reeves said. “We have 20-plus for the varsity and about 12 or 13 on the ninth-grade team. When I talked to them, they all seemed pretty excited about the new things going on.”
Reeves has been part of nearly a decade of postseason appearances for the Lady Red Devils, though she has a higher regard for her 2007 team which earned a No. 3 seed in the 6A state tournament and reached the quarterfinal round before falling to eventual state champion Benton.
The 2006 team took a No. 6 seed and fell out in the first round.
“I don’t coach to lose,” Reeves said. “You know my philosophy is that I don’t want us to go to the state tournament because everyone gets to go, I want us to go because we deserve to be there.”
