Bulldog volleyball starts season at West Tip Off tournament
Whitefish sophomore Brooke Zetooney practices with the Lady Bulldog volleyball team at the high school on Friday morning. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish's Nayvee Miller hits the ball over the net off a set from Ainsley Scott at a volleyball practice at the high school on Friday morning. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish volleyball graduated some major contributing seniors last year, so the team is in a sort of rebuilding phase headed into this fall.
The team does have six seniors, however four of them have not seen significant varsity court time before.
“It’s going to be a steep learning curve for us,” head coach Addy Connelly said.
Last year the team made a run for state, but came up short after dropping two games at the divisional tournament. The Lady Dogs finished the year 7-9 overall.
Connelly says that after graduating seniors such as Jenny Patten and Mikenna Ells, the main position she’s having to fill is the setter. She has sophomore Ainsley Scott and senior Ashleigh Markowitz on tap for that position, but also expects many players to be learning alternate positions than what they might be used to.
“We have a lot of versatile players, so filling in the holes that all those seniors left and finding the best mix of girls and how well they work next to each other and communicate; we’re going to be tinkering with different roles,” she said.
Whitefish also returns sophomore Brooke Zetooney and senior Jadi Walburn, both saw a lot of varsity court time last season. Walburn is coming off an injury though, Connelly notes.
Although making a splash in postseason play is always a potential goal, the girls are focused on giving everything right now the best they’ve got. According to Connelly the team chose a theme of “Dig Deep Dogs” for the season, which represents their commitment to leaving it all out on the court and being as competitive as possible.
“So whatever they are doing, they’re finding their maximum level of competitiveness in everything that they do,” she said.
And so far in practice, the girls have been focusing on getting the most important aspects of the game down so they can shine when it’s time to perform.
“They’re just really going back to the basics and taking care of that ball by really being precise in those basic skills,” Connelly said.
The volleyball team hits the court for the first time this season this weekend at the Northwest-Southwest Tip Off Tournament in Ronan.
