The volleyball courts in the Butler County area won’t be short on stars this season.

Or new coaches for that matter.

Five of the 11 area teams — Butler, Mars, Moniteau, Slippery Rock and Union — will have a new face on the bench.

The coaches who are returning have bona fide superstars.

Perhaps one of the best is Knoch senior Celina Sanks, who averaged 13.1 kills per match.

This summer, Sanks committed to Eastern Kentucky.

“I think she’s pretty happy to get that out of the way,” said Knoch coach Diane Geist. “She led us in every stat and she’s a really smart player. She is a leader on the court.”

Karen Martini has an all-state performer back in senior Angela Seman.

A libero last year, Seman may play a fair share of outside hitter this season.

Wherever she plays, she’s been a force since her freshman season.

“I think she puts things in perspective to a lot of these kids,” Martini said. “She shows a lot of practice, hard work pays off and that just because you’re a freshman, that doesn’t mean you can’t come in and start.”

Freeport also has a burgeoning young player in Zoe Pawlak, who came in as a freshman and quickly showed off uncommon skills.

“She’s had a year to get a little more comfortable,” said Freeport coach Tom Phillips. “At times last year, she tried to do a little too much. She’s a great, great player.”

Here is a look at Butler County area volleyball teams this season:

Butler

nCoach: Dan Mountain, first year

nAt the net: Gabrielle Carney (senior), Kiana Green (senior), Kristen Knass (senior), Emily Shorr (senior), Alyssa DiPippa (junior), Baylee Verner (junior)

nSetting things up: Rachel Rebmann (junior)

nLibero: Erin Hilderbrand (senior)

nOutlook: Mountain is in his first year at Butler after six successful seasons at Mars. Despite playing in a tough section, Mountain expects the Golden Tornado to compete for a playoff spot.

“We look to be a very strong team that competes very well against some very tough teams,” Mountain said. “Whoever makes the playoffs from our section will be poised for a long playoff run.”

Seneca Valley

nCoach: Karen Martini, eighth year

nAt the net: Morgan Chapman (senior), Katie Brown (senior), Abbie Trezciak (senior), Sydney Martini (junior), Becca Might (junior)

nSetting things up: Lindsey Hobaugh (senior), Christina Karika (senior)

nLibero: Angela Seman (senior), Hanna Parey (senior), Breanna Bamiani (junior), Isabella Seman (freshman)

nOutlook: Angela Seman, who made the all-state team as a libero, may move to outside hitter because of an injury to Trezciak.

Still, Karen Martini is confident the Raiders can bounce back after missing the playoffs last season.

“It was the first season in my 11 years of coaching (Martini coached at Mars before coming to Seneca Valley) that my team missed the playoffs,” Martini said. “Our first and foremost goal is to be a playoff team. We have the talent and we have to work really hard and stick together.”

Knoch

nCoach: Diane Geist, 28th year

nAt the net: Celina Sanks (senior), Schaely Renfrew (senior), Mary Zellhart (senior)

nSetting things up: Kiley Hajek (junior), Lexie Graham (junior)

nLibero: Taylor Tabacchi (senior)

nOutlook: With Sanks anchoring things on the court, it could be a special season for the Knights.

“It should be a strong year for us,” Geist said. “These girls have been playing together since the seventh grade and you can’t teach that experience. It’s up to them how far they can go.”

Mars

nCoach: Tami Caraway, first year

nAt the net: Cassie Berteotti (junior), Cassie McKernan (freshman), Alexi Zika (senior), Hannah Both (junior), Elise Sheehy (sophomore), Kelsey Bruce (senior)

nSetting things up: Natalie Grice (senior), Julia Zimmer (freshman)

nLibero: Maggie McKernan (senior)

nOutlook: Mars lost six key seniors from a team that reached the PIAA Class AA semifinals last season.

Caraway, whose daughter, Lara, graduated in 2012 and is playing at Penn State University, still thinks the talent is there to compete.

“There is a lot of opportunity for playing time,” Tami Caraway said. “There is a lot of competition for spots and we’re looking good.”

Freeport

nCoach: Tom Phillips, 13th year

nAt the net: Zoe Pawlak (sophomore), Amanda Hewitt (senior), Megan Sweeny (senior), Alexis Schecengost (senior)

nSetting things up: Grace Ward (junior), Emily Toy (senior)

nLibero: Brittney Bianco (senior)

nOutlook: The standards are very high at Freeport, which made last season mildly disappointing for the Yellowjackets, who didn’t get past the WPIAL quarterfinals.

“One of the things we lacked, and something I wasn’t bashful about talking about last year, was leadership,” Phillips said. “This year, I have five seniors and all five of them play together.”

Slippery Rock

nCoach: Laura Franklin, first year

nAt the net: Carly Shearer (senior), *Heather Urbaniak (senior), Kaitlyn Spangler (senior), Brooklyn Walsh (junior), Lindsey Lueken (senior)

nSetting things up: Ellie Mularski (junior), Abbey Little (junior)

nLibero: Kortney Schaum (sophomore), Courtney Strong (sophomore)

nOutlook: As if losing school-record holders Megan Little, Laura Hilliard and Taylor Stamm wasn’t bad enough, the Rockets were dealt a blow when Urbaniak suffered a season-ending knee injury that required surgery last week.

Franklin, who took over for Greg Dugan, still thinks Slippery Rock can contend for a region title.

“It’s going to be a lot harder for us to win,” Franklin said. “But I think we have the talent and we can be contenders.”

Grove City

nCoach: Dawn Haggart, fourth year

nAt the net: Corianne Hyduchak (senior), McKenzie Fagan (senior), Jordan Wyllie (senior), Jen Ferguson (senior), Taylor Shingledecker (senior)

nSetting things up: Arianna Sprando (senior)

nLibero: Stephanie Risch (senior)

nOutlook: Grove City is loaded with seniors, which Haggart hopes propels the Eagles to the top of the region.

“With the group of seniors we have, we have some pretty experienced players,” Haggart said. “We made the playoffs last year and there are always competitive teams in the region. It’ll be a fight for the region title.”

Karns City

nCoach: Julie Ennis, fourth year

nAt the net: Kendyll Smith (senior), LeeAnn Gibson (sophomore), Cheyenne Troutman (junior)

nSetting things up: Kristen Smith (senior)

nLibero: None

nOutlook: The Gremlins feel they have a chance to finally get over the hump this season.

“We do have a pretty athletic team this year,” Ennis said. “We’re hopeful we’ll have a very successful season.”

Moniteau

nCoach: Jamie Martino, first year

nAt the net: Maria Loos (senior), Stephanie McCall (junior), Brittney Lindsay (sophomore), Megan Sosigian (junior), Megan Smouse (senior)

nSetting things up: Alycia Brehm (junior)

nLibero: None

nOutlook: Martino, a 1994 Moniteau graduate and former player, brought in two assistant coaches who also played and graduated from the school in Kelsey Say and Kenzie Timblin.

She’s hoping to turn a program that has seen its fair share of coaching turnover around.

“We’re dedicated to build skills,” Martino said. “We do have a lot of talent on the team. We want to get this program back to winning some games.”

Union

nCoach: Dani Emings, first year

nAt the net: Abbey Jones (junior), Michaela Lencer (junior), Eiley McGregor (junior), Leah Conner (senior), Kassie McGarrity (senior), Kelsey Montgomery (senior), Abigail Shirey (senior), Jacqueline Stitt (senior), Sydney Varner (senior), April Zanot (senior)

nSetting things up: Beau Rankin (senior)

nLibero: Danara Hawk (senior)

nOutlook: Emings takes over for Barry Divins, who spent 18 years as the volleyball coach at the school. Emings, a teacher at Union, was an assistant under Divins.

“This year our focus has been on offense,” Emings said. “We are trying to incorporate a wider variety of sets while also relying on more hitters. Our goal is to get everyone more touches on the ball. This year we have a large number of seniors, and their leadership has proven very valuable.

A-C Valley

nCoach: Doug Knox, eighth year

nAt the net: Jessica Callender (senior), Mikayli Terwilliger (senior), Sadie Longo (junior), Courtney Fitzgerald (senior), Danielle Kaufman (junior), Katie Stumpner (sophomore)

nSetting things up: Melanie Lewis (junior), Alyssa Babcock (sophomore), Kiersten Rothen (sophomore)

nLibero: None

nOutlook: The Falcons lost five two-year starters and will head into this season with lots of inexperience.

Still, Knox is happy with what he has seen so far in scrimmages and is encouraged the drop-off won’t be so steep.

“I think we’ll hold our own this year,” Knox said. “I’m very optimistic and I expect us to make the playoffs.”