2026 Volleyball Preview: Culture shifts for Dee-Mack under first-year head coach Smith

MACKINAW — A new era in Dee-Mack volleyball begins this fall.

The Chiefs hired a new head coach in Livia Smith, who competed in high school at nearby Normal U-High and went on to play collegiately for four years at Grace College. She won a national championship during her time there and is ready to bring new energy to the Chiefs squad.

The Chiefs boast one of the more experienced lineups in the area, returning four varsity starters from last season: Kate Schmidgall, Anna Schmidgall, Alayna Kuhn, and Ellie Weir. Plus, multiple of the Chiefs’ contributors also started on Dee-Mack’s state championship-winning girls basketball team last school year, bringing the experience from one of the biggest stages in sports back to their volleyball team.

Dee-Mack believes that its newfound bonds, formed as a combined result of familiar faces and a new voice at head coach, could propel them to one of their best seasons in recent memory.

Hear from players Kate Schmidgall, Kuhn, and Meesha Zeller in the upcoming season preview below.