With the exit of a large and talented group of seniors, the young Shawano Community High School girls volleyball team is going to rely on height and defense this year.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Shawano coach Jean Wolf said. “I graduated a lot of seniors. I’m seeing a lot of promise and a lot of good things right now.”
At the top of Wolf’s list is the team’s blocking.
“(It is a) taller team overall, and we have a lot of girls with some very long arms,” Wolf said. “We had a scrimmage at Green Bay Preble, we had fantastic blocking. We’ve changed up their blocking steps to be more effective blockers. They were trying that on Saturday. I think we outblocked both Preble and Wrightstown.”
Another big change this year is going from a 5-1 scheme to a 6-2. Graduated senior Mikayla Schoening, a second-team all-conference setter, ran most of the plays in the 5-1 scheme. This year the Hawks will have two setters in their rotation.
Junior Madison McBride and sophomore Annelies Young will take over those duties. Two other sophomores, Erika Dunnam and Kira Corn, are expected to play important roles.
Also returning to the team are four seniors — Kayla Hokenstad, Isabella Gonzalez, Haley Going and Payton Going.
“I have four tremendous seniors stepping up and providing lots of leadership,” Wolf said.
Wolf is still in the stage of putting the pieces of the team together, a job made harder by the versatility of her players.
“They all know each other, but it’s going to be about getting to know each other on the court,” Wolf said. “How do we work together? When I’m playing next to you, do we play well next to each other? How can we make that better? That’s the No. 1 hurdle. Then it’s just, how do we fit them together. I have some really good versatile hitters that can hit in three different hitting positions.”
Wolf so far has been impressed with the attitude of the 39 girls out for the team.
“The best thing is they all get it. There’s no bad attitudes,” Wolf said. “All I’ve seen — and we’ve been putting in two-a-days for a week and a half now — I haven’t seen any attitudes yet. It’s all questions and working to get better.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge the Hawks face is a tough Bay Conference. Shawano went 6-2 in the Bay last year, finishing tied for second with West De Pere. Oconto Falls, which went undefeated winning the Bay Conference title last year, returns player of the year Carly Lemke.
“I think we could be in the top third of the conference for sure,” Wolf said, “if the girls play the way I think they can.”
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