LocalSportsJournal.com

SHELBY–Shelby senior Morgan Weirich and her sophomore teammate Navea Gauthier have been chosen as the Local Sports Journal volleyball players for October.

Weirich is a 4-year player, who is the Tigers’ libero. She has 43 aces, is serving at a 94 percent success rate, has 91 assists and 519 digs. Recently, Weirich recorded her 2,000th dig.

Gauthier is a 2-year outside hitter for the Tigers.

Navea has 96 aces, serving at 87 percent and hitting at 33.1 percent. She has 678 kills, 42 blocks and 350 digs.

Navea has already surpassed 1,000 kills as a sophomore.

“Morgan and Navea have been great friends for as long as I can remember,” said Shelby volleyball coach Tom Weirich. “This season has been particularly special for us, because we know it will be the last time those two take the court together.”

Gauthier’s mother, Becky, was the jayvee coach under Weirich for 15 years so their daughters have spent a lot of time together and around the game.

“Morgan and Navea have also experienced some success playing beach volleyball as doubles partners, which has cemented their volleyball careers even tighter,” Weirich said. “It is hard to talk about one of these girls without talking about the other. They are a perfect compliment to each other as Morgan anchors the defensive side of the ball and Navea finishes on the offensive side of the ball. Their careers have been special up to this point. 

With Gauthier and Weirich leading the way, the Tigers were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Shelby had not won a conference title since 1999.

Gauthier was a first-team all-state selection a year ago and it’s expected she will repeat this season as a sophomore. Weirich was third-team all-state a year ago and she could move up to first or second team, according to Coach Weirich.

“As student athletes they bring everything to the classroom that they bring to the court,” Weirich said. “Both are respected by staff, administration and their peers.”

Weirich is expected to receive academic all-state honors as well.

“Having coached with Becky for so long, I consider her one of my very best friends,” Weirich said. “Getting to share the successes of our daughters as they cement their legacies at Shelby has been a true blessing.”

Morgan is the daughter of Tom and Stephanie Weirich and has a 3.87 grade-point-average. Gauthier is the daughter of Brent and Becky Gauthier and has a 3.6 grade-point-average.