Beers named Redmond head volleyball coach - Central Oregonian

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Lon Austin

Former Crook County High School volleyball star Kimber (Duncan) Beers was recently named head volleyball coach for the Redmond Panthers.

“I’m excited and I’m nervous,” Beers said following last week’s Summit Jamboree. “I’m hoping I’m doing well, but it’s totally rebuilding. We are very young and very inexperienced.”

Beers, who played volleyball at Angelo State University, has no previous coaching experience. However, she has a lot of playing experience. Beers played both setter and libero in high school and was the starting libero for most of her career at Angelo State, where she graduated in 2009.

The Panthers struggled at the Summit Jamboree losing all four of their games. The team also lost their first three matches of the season. However, they earned their first win of the year on Saturday at the Mountain View Invitational where they knocked off North Eugene 25-16, 23-25, 15-8 in silver bracket quarterfinal action.

Redmond High School was Class 6A last year. However, with the opening of a second high school in Redmond this year the school has dropped to Class 5A where they will compete in the Intermountain Conference.

Unfortunately for Beers, most of the experienced volleyball players transferred to the new school. Redmond has just two seniors on their roster and only two players with any club volleyball experience.

“I would compare the challenge to rebuilding a house,” Beers said. “You strip everything down and then you go back to the very basics. It’s going to take some time and it’s going to help my patience.”