The Bennington Volleyball team took another successful step forward during the 2006/2007 season. During the summer, the team helped with the Elementary and Junior High volleyball camps. The girls flourished in the role of camp leaders and energetically worked to make it a rewarding experience for all the future Badgers.

Success on the court also started during the summer, the team worked hard to improve their skills, conditioning and competitive drive. Leigh Dutton and Kelsey Hansen did a top-notch job of organizing the summer activities needed to improve the team. Their progress was obvious during the summer league games and team camps. The team sent two split squads (Varsity and JV mixed together) to the UNO team camp and the Varsity also went to the UN-Kearney team camp. Their commitment began to pay off during the season. Led by seniors Leigh Dutton, Leigha Wichelt and Lacy Cheers the Varsity went from last in the conference in 2005/06 to third in both the regular season and the conference tournament. This is a dramatic improvement, especially considering many varsity contributors were Freshman and Sophomores.

Before the first match, the team elected Leigh, Leigha and Lacy as captains. They did an excellent job of organizing and planning activities for the team.

The first tournament of the year resulted in a second place finish at the Ft. Calhoun tournament. The team practiced hard and played smart in a win over Arlington and a five set marathon loss against Elmwood-Murdock who finished the season at 25-8. That is when the team realized they were developing into a team that could compete. Conference foes Syracuse, Conestoga, DC West and Ft. Calhoun were next. The girls went 3-1, losing only to 22-4 Syracuse.

Bennington also hosted it’s first volleyball tournament in the new school. Competition was tough as all teams were above 500% and we were seeded fourth. We took our lumps but we competed throughout. School and community support was good and we plan on hosting the event for many years.

Scheduling is another area where we are making adjustments. I believe in order to prepare ourselves for future Conference, District and State tournaments, we must schedule opponents that will constantly expand our comfort zone. This philosophy doesn’t always bode well for the season record, but it will pay off down the road. Along those lines we played Omaha Burke, a class A school with 1529 students that finished 11^th in power points. We (157 students) won the first game (set) and were leading late in the second before Burke rallied and beat us in three. We were disappointed and proud at the same time.

In the Conference tournament the girls advanced to day two where we beat Ft. Calhoun, lost to Syracuse then rebounded by beating Raymond-Central in the consolation match. It was a good showing, the girls were continuing to develop. Unfortunately the season came to an abrupt end when we lost to Ft. Calhoun in our opening District match. I think the lesson was learned by our players that they must be ready to play every time they step onto the court. This lesson won’t do our fantastic Senior captains any good, but it is a very valuable lesson for our very talented younger players.

This, and last, years Seniors have allowed us to form an incredibly strong foundation for the teams that follow. I believe our team has tremendous upside and truly believe we can accomplish great things next year!

Thank you to all you girls that have worked so hard to represent yourselves, our team and your school in a manner to make everybody associated with you incredibly proud!

2006-07 Records

Varsity: 10-14

J-Varsity:

C team: 11-1

Team Highlights

2^nd Place Ft. Calhoun tournament

3^rd Place Conference regular season

3^rd Place Conference tournament

68% of Kills

63% of Digs

71% of Blocks

72% of Aces

14% of Set Assists

Awards

Leigh Dutton:

All-Conference 1^st Team

All-Area Honorable Mention

All-State Honorable Mention

Leigha Wichelt

All-Conference Honorable Mention

All-Area Honorable Mention

Lacy Cheers

Academic All-State Honorable Mention

Kelsey Hansen

All-Conference 2^nd Team

All-Area Honorable Mention

All-State Honorable Mention

Erin Backhuus

All-Area Honorable Mention

Brooke Dutton

All-Area Honorable Mention