The Official Web-site of the Bennington Badger Volleyball Team
2008 Year In Review
Bennington Volleyball
2008 Record 26-6
(#8 OWH; #10 LJS)
The girls entered the 2008 volleyball
season with high expectations and lofty goals.
When the season was over the girls had achieved many of their goals
including, the highlight of the volleyball season, making the schools first
trip to the state volleyball tournament in 10 years. Although it didn’t end up the way we were all
hoping, it was a fantastic experience and opportunity for the members of this year’s
team. That opportunity didn’t happen by
accident or luck, it was earned.
The varsity girls spearheaded
the effort starting in the summer with great leadership and a belief that hard
work was the only way to achieve what they wanted. Summer activities included a float in the
Bennington Daze Parade, ‘Dunk Tank’ and car washing at the elementary as
fundraisers, open gyms, conditioning, summer leagues and teams camps. Mr. Turner was the first volunteer (aka:
victim) in the dunk tank and we want to thank him, as well as all other
helpers, for making that a tremendous success.
Team camps included Creighton, Missouri State and UNL. They were very beneficial in the preparation
for the season. The three seniors (Kayla
Book, Kelsey Hansen, Katie Pearson) have been remarkable for the volleyball program! I will truly miss having these girls around.
Twenty-seven girls ended the
year under the direction of head coach Scott Romans and two new coaches; Jodi
Bierman and Mike Godek. We had a
fantastic start to the season as the varsity rattled off seven strait wins
including victories over Platteview, Arlington and Elmwood-Murdock. Rival Syracuse handed the badgers their first
loss of the season. The girls bounced
back to win their next eight matches, brining their record to 15-1. During that stretch we won our own Bennington
Invite for the second strait year going 3-0.
The very tough Wisner
tournament produced a 1-2 record with losses to West Point-Beemer and
Wisner. The losses fueled the teams
drive to improve in order to reach their goal of making the state tournament as
both of those teams were in our district.
The girls bounced back with two terrific wins over Wahoo in the
conference tournament and a much better showing against Syracuse gave the team
proof that their hard work was going to pay off. Next, the girls finished third in the very
tough Bergan Invite losing only to eventual state qualifier Battle Creek. The regular season came to an end with
another strait set win over Wahoo.
The race to state was
next. We started by defeating Ft Calhoun
then a much improved Arlington squad in the sub-district finals. The wild card was not an option even though
we had only 5 losses on the season and those losses came to teams with a record
of 150 wins against only 20 losses. As
it turned out, three of our five losses were against other state qualifying
teams and the other two teams had to face off to see who played us in the
District finals. West Point-Beemer beat
Wisner in the battle of 28 win teams setting up a rematch from earlier in the season.
It was a jammed house at the
Fremont school and with the exception of Bailey’s pre-game knee injury, it was
definitely our night. After winning the
first set we came out and played the most amazing game I’ve ever seen. We beat the 5 loss West Point-Beemer team
25-4. We let up and we lost game three, but
finished punching our ticket to Lincoln with a fourth set victory. As the eighth seed in the tournament we drew
Grand Island Central Catholic in the first round. The jitters were apparent in the first set
but we settled down in the second and third sets but were still defeated in
strait sets. There is no doubt that that
loss will motivate our girls to in the coming season. They have unfinished business.
The girls set school records
in wins and winning percentage going 28-6 on the season. In addition the team set the C1 STATE record
for Kills in a Season; Set Assists in a Season; Kills in a Match and Set
Assists in a Match (-vs- Platteview).
The ‘Match’ records are on NSAA’s website already.
Academically, the girls were
equally impressive and were awarded the American Volleyball Coaches Academic
Award. Last year they were only one of
four teams in the state to receive the award.
I am confident they will again be awarded the prestigious honor. The girls do a remarkable job of balancing
academic and activities.
2008 Bennington Volleyball Team
Seniors
***Kayla Book Co-Captain
****Kelsey Hansen Co-Captain
***Katie Pearson Co-Captain
Juniors
***Erin Backhuus
***Brooke Dutton
***Mackenzie Reynoso
***Bailey Schlotfeld
***Allison Siekman
Sophomores
Kirsten Aurora
Becky Engelhart
Courtney Grant
**Ashley Pearson
*Kristin Pokorny
Shelby Sass
Shelby Schlachter
Amanda Smith
Freshmen
Alexis Allen
Abbey Christensen
Brianna Dice
Demi Higgins
Megan Jacobs
Kylee Mumma
*Courtney Reiman
Liberty Taylor
*Erynn Westfall
Jessi White
Amanda Wood
* = Letter Earned
Bolded names Lettered
2008-2009
Team Highlights
American Volleyball Coaches
Assn.-Team Academic Award
Most Wins in a Season-School
Highest winning percentage-School
1st Place Ft. Calhoun Tournament
1st Place
Bennington Invite
3rd Place Bergan
Tournament
2nd Place
Conference Tournament
2nd Place
Conference Regular Season
C-3 District Champions
State Tournament Qualifier
Class C1 State Records:
Kills in a Season (1,174)
Set Assists in a Season (1,103)
Kills in a Match (69)
Set Assists in a Match (68)
Individual Highlights
Hitting Percentage (100 attempts min.)
Brooke Dutton 381%
Erin Backhuus 365%
Mackenzie Reynoso 321%
Ashley Pearson 286%
Kelsey Hansen 262%
Kills
Erin Backhuus 284 (School Record)
Ashley Pearson 244
Kelsey Hansen 230
Brooke Dutton 176
Mackenzie Reynoso 125
Digs
Erin Backhuus 237
Kayla Book 216
Ashley Pearson 210
Allison Siekman 200
Erynn Westfall 101
Katie Pearson 100
Set Assists
Erynn Westfall 731 (School Record)
Bailey Schlotfeld 102
Blocks
Brooke Dutton 69
Kelsey Hansen 67 (School Career Record Holder)
Ashley Pearson 45
Erin Backhuus 39
Aces
Erynn Westfall 82 (School Record)
Kelsey Hansen 43 (School Career Record Holder)
Ashley Pearson 36
Awards
Kelsey Hansen All Conference 1st
Team
All-Area Honorable
Mention
All-State Honorable
Mention
Kayla Book All Conference
Honorable Mention
Katie Pearson Academic All State
Erin Backhuus All Conference 1st
Team
All Area 1st
Team
All State Honorable
Mention
Academic All State
Top Juniors-Honorable
Mention-Prep Volleyball
Brooke Dutton All Conference Honorable
Mention
Academic All State
Mackenzie Reynoso Academic All State
Allison Siekman Academic All State
Ashley Pearson All Conference 2nd
Team
Super Soph-4th
Tier-Prep Volleyball
Erynn Westfall All Conference 1st
Team
All State Honorable
Mention
All Area Honorable
Mention
Fab 59 Frosh-Top Varsity
Freshmen in the
Country-Prep Volleyball
