A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Elli Willoughby makes a diving save to keep the ball in play during the Aug. 21 volleyball "Jamboree" scrimmage hosted by Hermantown High School.
Keelee Grashorn makes a diving save to try to keep the ball in play in Hermantown.
With only three players returning who saw regular action last year, the learning curve will be steep for the Cloquet volleyball team this season. The Lumberjacks will look to replace seven players from last year's team who graduated.
"We do not want to get focused on outcomes, but instead to keep working on improving each day we get on the court," said head coach Heidi Anderson. "We will be competitive with the teams in our area, but we don't have control over winning, losing or other teams' preparations so we are focused on what we need to do and the things within our control."
The three returning players this year are Emerson Rock, Brenna McClarey and Lucy Sinkkonen. Sinkkonen, the only senior on the team, will return at middle hitter. Rock, who is a sophomore setter, played back row setter for the team last year. McClarey, a junior, will make the move from right side hitter to middle hitter joining Sinkkonen in that role for the 'Jacks.
The only other players to have even practiced with the varsity last season were Elli Willoughby, Morgan Van Reese and Trinity Semo. Willoughby will be the team's libero this season, Van Reese will be a starting setter when the team runs a 6-2 offense and Semo will play outside hitter. All three are juniors.
"We have good numbers again this year with 33 kids on our high school teams," Anderson said. "Our seventh- and eighth-grade teams have about 25 kids. We are kind of right where you want them to be in order to get players playing time."
Anderson points to three other players who should play key roles on this year's varsity team: Geneveve Fonoti, a sophomore middle hitter who will most likely play right side hitter this year; Ava Carlson, an eighth-grade setter and outside hitter; and Laura Hecht, a sophomore who can play either outside hitter or right side hitter.
"Our players are working really hard and being coachable, and they are a really fun group to work with," Anderson said. "We learned a lesson a few years ago when we graduated eight players in making sure we have the next crew ready to go, so we kept 13 players on varsity last year. We have six ready for varsity pace and we have a group that has worked really hard in the off season to come in and get more prepared."
