Badger Volleyball
It's Go Time!
2007 Year In Review
2007 Badger Volleyball
Record 23-10
I spent about a week trying
to figure out what to write about the 2007 volleyball season for this
program. I finally figured a nine or 10
paragraph synopses shouldn’t take as long to write as the season lasted, so I cheated. I went back to last years summary, reviewed
it, and was amazed how this season wasn’t so much a new year as much as it was
a continuation of what some amazing, young and talented volleyball players
started a year earlier.
To prepare for the 2007
season the girls again committed themselves during the summer. They worked hard in the gym two days a week
and conditioned another two days each week.
In addition to the Bellevue summer league the varsity attended team
camps at UN-Omaha, Platteview High School and, after taking in a Josh Gracin
concert in Hastings, the UN-Kearney team camp.
The JV attended the UN-Omaha team camp and the Gretna Summer
league. Summer attendance was terrific.
Their summer efforts were
obvious early in the season. The team
exploded out of the gate winning their first six matches, bringing home the 1st
place trophy from the Ft. Calhoun Invite and beating two class ‘B’ teams. State qualifiers Elmwood-Murdock and Syracuse
were our only losses through September.
The girls worked together and bounced back to win the Bennington
Invite. They finished 0-3 against the
same teams just one year earlier.
In a continuing effort to
strengthen our schedule we added tournaments at Wisner-Pilger and Fremont
Bergan. These tournaments are filled
with traditional powers & sub-district foes such as Norfolk Catholic, West
Point, Pierce, Seward, Battle Creek and hosts Bergan & Wisner-Pilger. The girls discovered they needed to be able
to play multiple matches at a high level.
During the conference
tournament the team finished with a third place finish, beating Ashland and
Raymond-Central, losing to Wahoo in a tough contest, then again beating Raymond-Central
in the consolation match.
Ten days later the girls beat Wahoo! …at Wahoo! ...on their parents night! It was a very intense, competitive five set
marathon. The girls played fantastic and
finished the conference season in second place behind Syracuse. I think the Wahoo win was one of those wins
that future successes are built. We played
in a tough environment, in an emotional situation and stayed mentally
tough. That was a fantastic win.
You could see the effects of playing
with a higher confidence level in the sub-districts in sweeps against Logan
View and Arlington. That meant we had
the opportunity to play top rated, 28-0, Norfolk Catholic with a trip to the
state tournament hanging in the balance.
The girls competed hard and stayed competitive throughout the
match. Norfolk Catholic eventually beat
us in four. We were only the seventh
team to even win a game from their senior laden squad. We saw what we could become.
Once again we doubled our
prior years win total, finishing 23-10 during the 2007 campaign. Mathematically it’s not possible to double
our win total again next year, but we will be a VERY good team that should
contend for the conference and district titles.
Maybe more…
One aspect of our team that I
want to really draw attention to was how we did as a team academically. I feel so strongly about taking care of
business in the classroom that I implemented a ‘study hall’ program. ‘Study
hall’ consists of getting a classroom at the school we are playing and allowing
the girls to do school work as soon as we arrive, during the warm-up periods
and one game they are not suiting up for.
I wasn’t sure if it was going to be utilized but the girls love the
extra time. I also added academics, as a
way to earn points in the lettering process.
They receive extra points if they make the President or Deans list
during our season. I am honored to announce that 19 out of the 23
girls on the 2007 squad made one or the other lists.
These young ladies efforts
and attitudes made it a complete joy to be their coach. I believe we are on the verge of something of
something very special.
Coach Scott Romans
JV & C Teams
Trying to get a season snippet from Jason or Kayla
2007 Bennington Volleyball Team
Seniors
**Abby Blankenship
Juniors
**Kayla Book
Helena Flaxbeard
***Kelsey Hansen’
**Katie Pearson
*Elizabeth Weidner
Sophomores
**Erin Backhuus
**Brooke Dutton
**Mackenzie Reynoso
**Bailey Schlotfeld
**Allison Siekman
Nicole Lantz-inj
Freshmen
Kirsten Aurora
Kasey Eggink
Becky Engelhart
Courtney Grant
Tori Klaus
*Ashley Pearson
Kristin Pokorny
Shelby Sass
Shelby Schlachter
Amanda Smith
Ann Weidner
*Letters Earned (2007 in Bold)
2007-08 Records
Varsity:
23-10
J-Varsity:
5-6
C
team: 4-5
Team Highlights
1st
Place Ft. Calhoun tournament
1st
Place Bennington Invite
2nd
Place Conference regular season
3rd
Place Conference tournament
2nd Place District
C-3
Individual Highlights
Kills
Kelsey
Hansen 238
Erin
Backhuus 220
Brooke
Dutton 178
Ashley
Pearson 149
Digs
Kayla
Book 251
Erin
Backhuus 235
Brooke
Dutton 198
Allison
Siekman 122
Set Assists
Elizabeth Weidner 574 **School Record**
*Broke Leigha Wichelt’s single
season record from last year.
Bailey
Schlotfeld 201
Mackenzie
Reynoso 58
Blocks
Kelsey Hansen 81 **School
Record**
* Broke her own record from
last year.
* Set career Blocking record.
Brooke
Dutton 51
Erin
Backhuus 44
Ashley
Pearson 44
Aces
Ashley
Pearson 39
Brooke
Dutton 34
Kelsey
Hansen 26
Erin
Backhuus 22
Elizabeth
Weidner 18
Katie
Pearson 15
Returning
in 2008
99%
of Kills
98%
of Digs
100%
of Blocks
99%
of Aces
100%
of Set Assists
Awards
Kelsey Hansen
All-Conference
1st Team
OWH
All-Area First Team
OWH
All-State Honorable Mention
OWH
All-State Honorable Mention
Elizabeth Weidner
Academic
All-State Honorable Mention
Katie Pearson
Academic
All-State Honorable Mention
Erin Backhuus
All-Conference
1st Team
All-Area
Honorable Mention
OWH
All-State Honorable Mention
OWH
All-State Honorable Mention
Brooke Dutton
All-Conference
2nd Team
All-Area
Honorable Mention
All-State
Honorable Mention
Ashley Pearson
All-Conference
Honorable Mention
All-Area
Honorable Mention