A familiar face is returning to the Auburn High School volleyball sidelines. After a brief retirement, Sherry Millirons is the new coach at her old school, and you might call it a bit of sisterly rivalry that has drawn her back.
Julie Connor is the head coach at Lord Botetourt where the team have won back-to-back Division 3 state titles. They have a legitimate shot at another this year.
Millirons was hired at Auburn in 1995 and coached volleyball for 20 seasons. Her career record is 378-111 and included three state championships (2012, 2013, 2014), 12 regular season district titles, 15 tournament titles, seven regional championships and 10 appearances in the state playoffs resigning after the 2014 season for family reasons.
At the time, volleyball conflicted with her two son’s sports schedules.
“I had to make a choice. It was that simple,” Millirons said.“I came back because my boys are older and I no longer have the in-season conflicts I had four years ago. Actually, both my boys encouraged me to coach again. I missed it and I missed the girls, so I applied,” she said.
Millirons jokes her sister is catching up on the number of titles. She even coached Julie at Auburn High School (1996-2000) when she was on the bench the first time. “She has done a great job at LB and I’m very proud of her.”
According to Millirons, her sister played on the only two losing seasons she ever had but her senior year, the team was 20-5 and won the district, region and made the very first state appearance losing in the semi-finals to Rye Cove.
When Auburn started looking for a replacement for Eddie Maynard who resigned abruptly a week before an appearance in last year’s state tournament.
Millirons starts her second run at Auburn with the same burning desire to win it all.
“The team last year made a strong run, but came up short in the semi-finals. We are going to work hard, work on coming together as a team and supporting each other and we are going to have fun doing it. If we can manage those things winning will take care of itself,” she said.
