Wilmot girls volleyball team aims to improve

By Dan Truttschel

Sports Correspondent

There’s been plenty of learning going at Wilmot High School the first two weeks of the 2013 girls volleyball season.

And that’s how it will go the rest of the season – as the young Panthers will be in for plenty of lessons along the way.

Wilmot returns just five girls with varsity experience from last year’s squad that won 13 matches – a 12-match improvement from the year before under then first-year head coach Kevin Rapp.

“The first two weeks, we’ve done a lot of growing,” Rapp said. “We have a very young team. We have done a lot of educating the first two weeks.

“Our scrimmage Saturday (at Burlington) showed us what we need to do to improve. We will work toward that end.”

Rapp, who is assisted again this year by Bailey Rackey, said he was pleased with his team’s effort at Burlington, which has won the last two Division 1 state titles.

The Panthers held their own against the Demons, he said.

“We had a strong showing against Burlington,” he said. “We played them first in the morning, and immediately after that, we played (Westosha) Central. They went on several long runs. They were clearly a stronger squad.”

Early on, it looks like the Panthers will boast a tough defense, which should keep them in matches, Rapp said.

“We going to play some back-row ball,” he said. “I will put our three or four defenders against many teams in the conference.”

Where Wilmot may struggle a bit offensively is with its setting until some of the young players get up to game speed, Rapp said.

And that will cause the Panthers some problems until that happens.

“Our biggest weakness is setting, and because of that, we’re going to have problems hitting as well,” he said. “If you can’t get the ball out to your hitters, you’re not going to be able to do anything.”

Captains were announced earlier this week, but Rapp said the five returning players – seniors Lindsey Orre (outside hitter-setter-defensive specialist), Lindsey Gaylor (setter-middle blocker) and Angela Nevoso (middle blocker-outside hitter); junior Shannon Johnston (libero-defensive specialist); and sophomore Sawyer Wightman (defensive specialist-libero) – will be counted on heavily.

“Those five are definitely going to be the leaders for the team,” he said. “Last year, they learned what varsity was about and have a good work ethic. It’s up to them to instill that in the rest of their teammates.”

The rest of the varsity roster includes juniors Lauren Orszula (outside hitter-setter), Lauren McCluskey (defensive specialist) and Kat Savage (defensive specialist); sophomores Sam Kirk (outside hitter-middle blocker), Sam Schloegl (defensive specialist) and Tetanus Gaines (middle blocker); and freshmen Devin Coleman (setter-outside hitter) and Lauren Daniels (right-side-outside hitter).

Looking at the Southern Lakes Conference, Rapp said he sees Central, perennial state powerhouse, and Burlington as the two teams everyone else will be chasing. Union Grove and Badger should be among the others to watch.

For this year, Rapp’s goals are much different than wins and losses.

“We want to develop for the future,” he said. “This is our rebuilding year, and I’ve told the girls that. It’s odd that my second year in the program is a rebuilding a year, but where we need to be is not what we can achieve this year.

 


Posted

in

by

Tags: