(Avoca) AHSTW has a lot of key personnel back and is ready to put a strong foot forward in 2021.
The Lady Vikes put together a strong offseason and are carrying that into the start of practice this week. Coach Kelsey Muxfeldt says, “It’s gone pretty well. We had a lot of girls show up this summer for open gyms and strength and conditioning just to kind of get a jump on working on skills and fundamentals. The first few days of practice have gone well. The girls have really shown up and put in some work.”
The team only has a couple of holes to fill so they’ll have plenty of experience. “Natalie Hagadon has been playing since her sophomore year and she just amazes me. She gets better every year so we are excited to see what she can do. Halle Hall, Ally Meyers has been setting for us. This will be her 4th year setting so it’s exciting when you can have a setter come back and knows the offense and knows the hitters. She’s just a hard working kid. Megan Wise in the middle, Darien Hansen played some last year. Then we have some seniors that’ll play more this year and some underclassmen that can help us out too.”
Delaney Goshorn, Liz Cordes, Ashtyn McCarthy, and Saydi Paulsen are some candidates to see more varsity time following the graduation of key cogs Kailey Jones and Claire Harris. ”
Meyers led the team with 366 assists last season and will be a real luxury to have back as a starter for a 4th year. “It’s good to not have to re-work that. Everyone has been playing with her for a long time so it makes everything that much smoother for us.”
Muxfeldt says they are focusing more on the little things this year and less outcome based. “What are the little things we can do every day to get better? A big one for us is communication. Being able to talk on the court and see the court well and understand what the other team is doing and what they are giving us. So we’ve been focusing on that hard the last two days and knowing that if we can do those things and go out and compete we’ll have a chance against any team. Hopefully we can be successful come postseason.”
The team starts the year August 28th with their home tournament.
