Lady Dogs prepare for kickoff tourney

Following last season’s appearance in the state tournament, the Lady Bulldog volleyball team hit the court recently ready to build on the program’s success.

“I’m really happy with how hard we’re working,” head coach Jackie Fuller said of the early practices. “They come in with a lot of intensity and a lot of fire, and they know that our goal is that we’re going to get better and better every day.”

Practice started for the Lady Bulldogs Aug. 11, and they’ll get their first taste of competition this weekend in Frenchtown during the Northwest/Southwest Kickoff Tournament.

Whitefish finished last season with a 14-8 record and second place in Northwest A with a 4-2 conference record.

Four seniors, all core players from last season’s team, return this year, including Cailyn Ross, Annisa Brown, Serena Hemmingson and Becca Catina. Fuller said a handful of juniors and some sophomores round out the balanced team.

“It’s just a great mix from all levels,” she said.

The focus right now is on drilling the fundamentals. Passing, serve and receive, defense and serving are the top priorities, Fuller said, whether it’s at the varsity, junior varsity or freshmen level.

“Those are areas that we’ve come into our season stressing,” she said. “Every level is going to focus on those areas and continue to get better and better.”

While last year was another solid season under Fuller’s belt, she emphasized that everything the team is doing is focused on the now.

“I don’t want to look behind to where we were or look ahead to where we’re going. It’s like looking through telescope every day ... that telescope shows us what’s out there, but we have to focus on what we’re doing each day,” she said.

For the complete Lady Bulldogs schedule and roster, visit www.whitefishhighschool.org/whsactivities/athletics/volleyball.html.