Experienced players to provide leadership for Hawk team
A number of experienced players are returning to the court for the HMS Volleyball program this season. Along with having logged a lot of playing time, those players bring another attribute to the table. “I’ve got the leadership coming back,” noted Hawk head coach Cheryl Kroese. “Kids that have played together for awhile and kids that have been there for a few years.” Kroese is being assisted again this year by Michele Wagner, who leads the JV Hawks, and Jenny Nassif, the C Team coach.
Those experienced players include senior outside hitter Elise Haack, senior defensive specialist and outside hitter Abby Kunzman, senior setter Emily Mutombo and junior libero and defensive specialist Abigail Otto. “Elise is a four-year starter,” said Kroese. “She’s the one we’re going to look to, to lead us out on the court. She’s filled lots of different roles through the years. We’re totally looking to kind of lean on her. Kunzman has considerable experience last year. We want her to take that leadership role also. Otto has got some experience for me too. She was mainly just a back row player last year and she’s actually in the libero uniform and I’m very confident with her in that.”
That experience and leadership does not end at the junior and senior level. Said Kroese, “Frankie Mohni, Abby Douma and Kylee Schiphoff are only sophomores. I told the girls ‘You’re sophomores, but I’m not going to treat you that way. You’re upperclassmen to me.’ That’s the exciting part is they’re not playing like they’re underclassmen.” Their coach reiterated that her expectations are for the trio to be performing like upperclassmen.
Douma is listed as an outside hitter and setter while Schiphoff will be at the net as both a middle and outside hitter. Mohni is the primary setter. “Frankie will run the offense,” stated Kroese. “She’s really grown. I’m super pleased with her work ethic. The kid just portrays confidence so if we can get that out of her on a nightly basis that’s what we’re going to need to be successful.
Junior setter and defensive specialist Kinsey Schirmer will be missing some time due to an injury. “That dings us a little bit with a backup setter,” said the coach, “but Mutombo’s been in that role before. I think with having some consistency at that level this year, that will help us out a lot.”
Added Kroese, “I’m real happy with what we’ve got coming back. Out of my starting rotation, everybody in it had some, if not significant, varsity time last year. We’re looking to that to hopefully put us in that leadership role out on the court and be able to step up our game a lot from where we were last year. I’m excited about that.”
Sophomore outside and middle hitter Eliza Tewes saw extensive playing time last season. Seniors Madison Ten Kley (defensive specialist/outside hitter) and Morgan Grooters (defensive specialist) were also on the floor at times. Completing the varsity roster are senior defensive specialist Kayla Kathman and junior outside hitter Heather Elgersma. “There’s a few possibilities of kids who are definitely going to be role fillers and stepping in, in situations,” said the coach. “I’m looking for girls that are kind of versatile in my next set, those who aren’t necessarily in the starting lineup, who can fill different roles and do different things for us. I’ve got a decent group there too, so that’s good.”
The physical disciplines of the game have taken a back seat to another priority of the preseason. Kroese explained saying, “What we’ve really been focusing on, and the girls have done a fantastic job with it, is just they need to take the role themselves out on the court of being leaders – not looking to me for all the answers. They need to look at each other and working hard and playing together as a team. We’ve been building that and doing a lot of team bonding and relationship building. Those, along with valuing each other and understanding their role on the team, those are key. So if you can build that, it does constitute more wins. I see that with this group and I’m real pleased with where they’re at.”
Another emphasis has been reading the ball and communicating that to the other players on the court. “We’ve had drills where we’ve been running that really well and sometimes that’s a work in progress for us,” said the coach. “I think that’s one thing that we need to continue to do is increase our footwork speed. We’ve been working on agilities pretty hard – that response time to the ball.”
The team has also been drilling on serve receive and first ball kill, keeping serving percentage above 90 percent while increasing the number of aces, and improving kill efficiency. In regard to the latter, Kroese said, “We’ve got to attack off a free ball. We’ve got to be able to control the ball and put it in for an attack and be able to score points off of other people’s mistakes.”
The Hawks lost a significant number of kills and blocks to graduation but the coach feels the team has an asset that is key to making up for that. “We’ve got the height,” noted Kroese. “We’ve been working hard on the net play with our blocking. I’m pleased with the pieces that are there. It’s a work in progress. You’re never going to say that you’re perfect at it. We’re definitely not, but I told the girls that you guys can be one of the better net play teams in the conference because of our height.”
Another asset at the net is versatility. “We’re going to take the opportunity to move some girls around position-wise,” said the coach. “I can throw one to the outside where maybe she’s been in the middle or I can throw one to the right side so that’s kind of the exciting part about where these girls are at. I can honestly put them in different situations and they’re going to know the position and be able to perform for us.”
Kroese was asked to handicap the War Eagle Conference. “The conference will be kind of an interesting mix,” she offered. “Unity I suppose will be in there as far as top notch. Gehlen’s got (Miyah) Whitehead back and she’s just powerful.” The coach indicated that graduation has affected some team more that others. “You don’t take a night off in the conference but I do know MMCRU lost lots, Akron-Westfield lost several, South O’Brien lost a ton, West Sioux lost some,” noted Kroese. “We sat down and looked at goals as a team and we want to be in that mix of the mid to upper level of the conference. I think that if we stay focused and we take it one night at a time that’s a goal that we need to reach. We need to be able to get there and show everybody else in the conference what this group has got.”
One can say that a win is a win but the Hawk coach is focusing on two particular types of wins. “One of the things that I told the girls is that my goals as a coach are we need to walk in and win the games we’re expected to,” said Kroese. “When you’re evenly matched, those are the ball games you’ve got to win on a nightly basis to be successful. And then I told the girls that we need that signature win. We need that win against a team that maybe we haven’t beaten for a while and get over that hump, that mindset competing against those other teams. I’m excited. They were super positive when we set those goals.”
She added that, “They set their own individual goals and they took those home. They’re great kids and I really enjoy working with them. I’m hoping that, for their sake, we can do the things to be successful this season and I can lead them in the right direction.”