Following a winless season a year ago, the Eagle volleyball team wants nothing more than to put the past behind and use a new season to start building the program. According to third-year head coach Alyssa Dooley, the future starts now and the girls are excited to get it underway.
“The situation we’re in this season is both a strength and a weakness,” stated Dooley. “We have a very large JJV squad of 20 girls, but from sophomores to seniors we only have ten. This gives us the advantage of starting fresh and really begin to build our program. We have had a lot of turnover with coaches since I’ve been on the staff, so I feel we can finally settle in and push my ideas forward with this group.”
She reports seeing nothing but positivity in the gym this year, which has created such a safe and welcoming environment for the girls to make mistakes and work through them together. “The downfall of having such a young team is that with it comes inexperience,” said the coach. “We are only returning two seniors and five total letterwinners. This puts a lot of the leadership responsibilities on some of our sophomores and juniors, which at times can be hard. We’re going to have some growing pains this season, but I have no doubt that we will take them head on and learn from them.”
She feels the key to the season will be to fine-tune their fundamentals to see success in matches. “With the lack of gym time due to COVID-19, we are really having to make up for lost time,” said Dooley. “We are hitting the basics pretty hard. The girls are already seeing results from our slow and steady approach from week one.”
The team will build on, and depend on, returning senior letterwinners Emmy Huse and Dani Lobato. Huse was third in serving at 85.4 percent, along with contributing 19 kills and 57 digs from the back row. Maddie Blomgren heads up the juniors, and served at 73.1 percent a year ago. A couple of sophomores also lettered, and will be looked at to provide more help on a team that is thin on varsity experience. Braxton Steil served at 88.5 percent, and Alexa Jeske at 62.7 percent while adding 19 kills to the front row attack. She is equally capable in the back row, as she made 70 digs a year ago.
The coaching staff includes Lexie Miller (third year) and Beth Egemo (second year). In looking over the Top of Iowa West, Dooley feels that Forest City, Lake Mills and North Union will all still be the top teams. “They all have strong programs that I would love to emulate here in the near future!” said the head coach. “The first week of practice really showed us how ready the girls are to get back to some normalcy. They have taken the COVID-19 recommendations and protocols with no problems. They just want to play, no matter what that might look like this season.”
