Five state championships. Seven state finals. Nine Final-4s.
All in 13 volleyball seasons.
It’s the fast track resume of the Cave Spring High School volleyball team since the arrival of head coach Tamalyn Tanis in 2002. Unmatchable numbers in this part of the state.
And, it becomes even more ironic when you realize that Tanis was almost named the head coach of rival Hidden Valley in that same 2002 season.
So, how did Tanis bring the banners to Cave Spring, and how do they keep coming ?
Tanis, herself, played at Cave Spring for three years, under the direction of coaches Joyce Palmer and current Northside softball coach Lynn Richmond, before graduating in 1989.
She then took her skills as an outside hitter to Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she helped the Eagles reach the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament her sophomore year, and go 35-3 in her junior year. Tanis graduated from Mary Washington in 1993 with a degree in economics.
It wasn’t long before the junior varsity coaching position at her high school alma mater became available.
“I was a real estate appraiser, and then Cave Spring athletic director Otis Dowdy gave me the opportunity to coach,” Tanis says.
Tanis coached the JV team and served as a varsity assistant to Knights head coach Penny Williams for several seasons.
Then, a twist of fate gave Tanis the opportunity to become head coach at Cave Spring. But, she almost went a different direction according to Williams in a 2012 interview.
“I was leaving coaching for family reasons related to having a child,” Williams recalled. “Tamalyn was my obvious successor. I was successful as a coach at Cave Spring because of her JV success. Tamalyn was a motivator, a spark plug and one that continually developed talented players that moved into the varsity program.”
“It was at the same time that Hidden Valley was being spun off from Cave Spring,” Williams remembered. “The (Cave Spring) administration was slow in announcing their decision on my replacement, and I became aware that Hidden Valley had Tamalyn on their radar. I passed that along, and she was immediately named Cave Spring’s new head coach.”
Tanis had 14 players on her last JV team. When the school split occurred later that year, seven of those players moved to Hidden Valley and seven stayed in the Cave Spring jurisdiction.
“When I took over in 2002, we had a tight-knit group that I had already coached in JV,” Tanis said. “That first season we had seven seniors and five juniors and we went 29-0. Winning two state championships in nine months (after the VHSL moved volleyball from a spring sport to a fall sport) set the tone for Cave Spring volleyball. The kids worked hard and everyone realized you need every piece to fall into place. It became a snowball effect.”
Those early successes helped change the landscape in area volleyball. Volleyball became more popular, the play became more serious and teams had to reach to new levels in order to keep up.
Tanis says the changes in the game since her arrival at Cave Spring have been dramatic.
“Volleyball is much more popular,” Tanis notes. “The girls are more athletic and more competitive. By the 5th or 6th grade, girls are looking for opportunities to play. By the 8th grade, with proper coaching in techniques, the skills will come with the better competition. If a player isn’t competitive, it’s hard to succeed. In today’s volleyball, there’s no room for error. The average fan doesn’t grasp what’s going on. Things move fast. Volleyball has become a sport that players get close to being perfectionists. Perfect the fundamentals, work on little things for hours, then adjust to your team size.”
And, the payoff for talented players in the Cave Spring program has been equally dramatic as the years passed.
“Of the players on those first two Cave Spring state championship teams, none went on to play in college,” Tanis points out. “Since then, we’ve had 6 go on to play at the Division-1 level and the list jumps to double digits for those playing D-2 and D-3.”
“Success is also a reflection of commitment,” Tanis adds. “Today, volleyball is a year-round sport. The biggest change has been the advancement of travel squads and club teams. It involves a lot of practice, a natural desire to play, with very hard work that is physically demanding. You have to stay athletic and concentrate on fitness with consistent workouts.”
Tanis can also be called an ambassador of the game. She founded the annual Shamrock Festival tournament that has attracted thousands of players, and her Tournament of Champions event that began in 2012 will take place the first weekend of October at the Spectrum Sports Academy, where some of the most talented teams in Virginia and West Virginia will be on display in serious competition.
“It gives the teams the chance to gauge their play against the best,” Tanis says. “It prepares you for the teams you will face late in the season.”
Other high school teams continue to improve with talented players and coaches joining the ranks each year. So, how does Cave Spring maintain its position in the upper echelon?
“We figure out what we want to achieve,” Tanis says. “I’m picky about the standard we want. At Cave Spring we always have a bulls eye on our back. We’ll always keep the athletic piece in place, but we also have lots of outside activities to insure bonding among our players. It has to be special and fun. “The coach can’t be the sole motivator.”
Cave Spring volleyball is also a family affair. Tamalyn’s husband, Mark, is an assistant, charting statistics during matches while she paces the sidelines analyzing strategy. Their daughter, Avery, 9, is a fixture and cheerleader at most matches.
And, Tanis has a corps of assistants, including Randy Asbury, Alan Griffith and Ashley Webb, that keep the program running smoothly.
“The key is getting everyone to buy into the system,” Tanis points out. “I want everyone to feel important, whether making a big shot or playing an important role during practices. What makes volleyball great for me are the wonderful relationships with teams
and players that go way beyond volleyball. My personal faith impacts my coaching, and my players know my ultimate goal as an individual and team is to use the talents God has given us.”
“If we strive for that, some sort of victory will happen. It may not show up in the win-loss column, but it shows up in the lives of everyone in the program.”
Bill Turner
