(Greenfield) The Nodaway Valley volleyball program has won at least 20 matches in each of the last two seasons. This year the Wolverines have a lot to replace.
Gone are multi-year starters Natalie Younker, Lexi Shike, and Corinne Bond among others. Head coach Allison Kiburz says, “I think this year will be an interesting year. We did lose a lot of good seniors last year, but we still have a bunch of good experience coming back as well. I know a lot of other conference teams lost a bunch of their key players. I think it’s going to be kind of up in the air this year. I think we do have a pretty good lineup ready to jump in and replace those girls we are going to be missing.”
Kiburz identifies several players ready to take on a bigger role. “Lindsey Davis is a sophomore and she’s probably going to be our main setter. Emma Perkey will step into one of those hitting roles. Madi Long will step into one of those back row roles and then I have seven seniors this year. Maddax DeVault and Whitney Lamb will be back. They were pretty solid for us the last couple of years.”
Five more seniors will look to help out in any way they can including Madi Carstens, Kadee Ferch, Rose Lonsdale, Haley Hall, and Bailey Steffen. Kiburz says there’s also a lot of sophomores with some talent. “We have a really good sophomore group. They are pretty athletic and I think they are all competing for that varsity spot. I have a good problem right now, we don’t really know our lineup right now, but I think a lot of girls can step into that role.”
They are going to keep their goals simple. “Our immediate goal is always going to be to just win out the week. Take it one step at a time and play the best that we can every game that we have.”
Fundamentals and getting in shape are two objectives in practice early on. “I make the girls run a mile every year the first week which they hate, but at least it gets them somewhat back in shape.”
The Wolverines scrimmage CAM this Friday and Earlham next week.
