KARNS CITY— Knowing what you want and getting it — neither has proved much of a problem for 2003 Butler High graduate Halee Schnur.

"I've known I wanted to be a volleyball coach since I was helping out with the (Butler) junior high team when I was playing in high school,"Schnur said.

Now 23, Schnur recently was hired as head varsity volleyball coach at Karns City High. She served as an assistant under Marcy Isacco with the Gremlins last year.

"Marcy was instrumental in my getting a job in the Karns City district,"Schnur said. "She is a math teacher at the high school and I'm a math teacher.

"When an opening in that department came up, Marcy knew of my volleyball background and wanted to get me in there. She was looking for someone to take over the program with a lot of knowledge in the sport."

Schnur qualifies on that count.

Standing only 5-feet-3 coming out of high school, she hadn't planned to play volleyball in college until Clarion University, a Division IIpower, recruited her as a defensive specialist.

Clarion had a senior-dominated team during Schnur's freshman year and she didn't play much.

"Then they recruited an outstanding libero (defensive specialist) from Ohio who beat me out fair and square,"Schnur said. "She was just better than me, so I saw limited playing time.

"After that year,I decided to quit playing and start pursuing my coaching career."

A good friend of Schnur's on the Clarion University team had graduated from Clarion High, where she played for veteran coach Shari Campbell and a strong volleyball program.

Schnur had played Junior Olympic volleyball for the North Allegheny-based NAVBprogram, coached by Bob Miller.

"Shari knew Bob Miller's coaching style was very similar to hers, so she wanted to meet me,"Schnur said. "It turned out she needed a volunteer assistant, so I filled that role."

Schnur served as Campbell's volunteer assistant her junior year in college and became her second assistant during her senior year.

Graduating from Clarion in May 2007, she joined Karns City's teaching staff last year and was coach of the Gremlins' junior varsity volleyball team that finished 20-1.

KC's varsity posted its second consecutive winning season — just three years removed from an 0-12 campaign in 2004 — but Isacco resigned regardless.

"Marcy turned this into a competitive program, but felt like she took it as far as she could,"Schnur said. "I was hired with the idea that I would try to take the program to another level and I'm grateful for that opportunity."

Karns City has 22 girls signed up for this fall — last year's team had 14 — and Schnur has the Gremlins playing in Butler's summer volleyball league.

"The competition is tremendous,"she said. "We're playing bigger schools like Butler, Seneca Valley, Hampton, Knoch, and we're 4-4 so far."

This fall, Schnur expects to start two seniors and four juniors, the latter four playing key roles in the JVteam's success.

"I'm still on the hunt for an assistant coach,"Schnur said. "I'm in the process of talking to some Karns City players who have graduated, asking if they want to come back and help out.

"Volleyball has offense, defense, game plans. ... We're going to do more than just pass, set and hit the ball. These girls are going to discover how fascinating this game can be."