PINCKNEYVILLE — For the third time in as many years, the Pinckneyville Lady Panthers volleyball team has a new head coach. Katie Shaneyfelt has taken over for Mike Layne, who resigned for personal reasons after one successful season.

Shaneyfelt is not new to the program, having served as the Lady Panthers head coach from 2007-2012.
Perhaps more importantly, she is very familiar to many of the current players.

There’s a next level familiarity with one player in particular–her daughter Jillian, who is a junior and the team’s setter. Mother and daughter have agreed to leave the volleyball talk on the court and not take it home with them.

Shaneyfelt is taking the reins of a program that has put together quite a four year run. The Lady Panthers are 112-24 during that span and have won or shared four straight SIRR Mississippi conference titles.

Even though they lost six seniors from the team that finished 21-3 back in the spring, Shaneyfelt has inherited a roster that is not only deep and talented, but hungry for more success. That includes postseason success, which wasn’t even an option in the spring.

The Lady Panthers will open their season Tuesday night at Centralia. Then on Saturday, it will be the SIRR Preview Tournament at Carterville.