New Arrow volleyball coach Natalie Duvall excited about upcoming season

By Danny C. Davis

It has been a long time since Clinton High School volleyball has had a competitive season. After finishing 34-7 and winning a state title in 2019 and going 13-7 in 2020, the Arrows have not had a winning record since. CHS finished 13-15 in 2021, 7-25 in 2022, 8-11 in 2023, and 5-11 in 2024.

But new Arrow head volleyball coach Natalie Duvall feels the Arrows have the talent to turn things around this season.

Clinton was set to open the season on August 1 and 2 in the MHSAA Invitational at the Jackson Convention Center. The tournament featured 32 of the state’s elite high school programs in a pool and bracket format. CHS was set to meet Alcorn Central (Corinth area), Lake Cormorant (Desoto County area) and Gulfport in their bracket to open the 2025 season.

Duvall grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where she excelled in high school volleyball at East Central High School in Jackson County. She played volleyball at William Carey College in Hattiesburg on scholarship and received a bachelor’s degree in education. Coach Duvall then became a graduate assistant at William Carey and, at the same time, earned a master’s degree. For the past three years, Duvall has coached volleyball at Germantown Middle School at Gluckstadt, where she led the junior high Mavericks to three Little Six Championships and three Top Hits Classics wins.

“I am very excited about this season and to be at Clinton High School,” said Duvall about her first head coaching opportunity.

“Ever since I got here in May, the girls have worked so hard, and their effort has been very good. That really goes a long way. I am very compassionate about the game of volleyball and impacting and developing girls in the classroom and on the volleyball court,” said Duvall.

Early on, Duvall got the girls in a good summer league and said that has helped develop the team skills and was a very good experience for the team.

“The summer league games helps us to see where we are as a team and also where we need to be. Also, a lot of the girls on our team play year-round on travel teams and have a lot of exposure to the game.”

CHS will play 18 regular season games after the MHSAA opening tournament. Home games are at the Clinton High School gymnasium. Junior varsity games are at 5:30 p.m., with varsity play at 6:30 p.m.

The first home game will be against Petal on August 5. Other key non-region games will be against St. Andrews, Northwest Rankin, St. Patrick, Pearl and Gautier.

Clinton Region 2-7A district games will be against brutal competition, once again. Region members include Oxford, on the road August 19, followed by Germantown, Jackson Murrah, Starkville and Madison Central. The Arrows will play each region 2-7A team twice, once at home and once on the road.

“We’ve got a very young team this year,” said Duvall. “We only have one senior, Madison Harris, and we will lean on her and our two juniors to lead our team this year. The other 19 players are all sophomores and freshman,” said Duvall. “We also have a middle school team that will play their games at the junior high campus.”

“We have a lot of height on the team this year, and, in volleyball, that is a real plus.”

“We want to build the program back with learning basic skill all the way from the junior high, ninth grade, junior high varsity, [and] all the way up to the varsity from the start. We want to be one unit that is close together and improves every game this year,” said Duvall.