VOLLEYBALL: Women laugh to top of conference
By Nate Bloomquist
Apache Editor
For the Lady Apaches, playing volleyball is a laughing matter they take seriously.
At a recent practice, members of the team were playing a game called ‘short court.’ The game involves pairs volleying over the net trying to hit past their opponents without hitting the ball past the 10-foot line. On one volley head coach Laurie Polte went after a spike, but wound up falling on her back.
She immediately burst into laughter and her team chimed in. Players continually joked about the fall throughout the rest of the practice. And so far this season, the Lady Apaches have been laughing their way to the top of the Arrowhead Conference.
IVCC (10-5 overall, 3-1 in conference at press time) has only lost to Kishwaukee in conference play.
So far this season, the team’s ability to laugh has turned into confidence. According to Polte, the team is gelling together now better than ever.
“They all know what their jobs are,” said Polte. “They goof around sometimes, but they seem to be handling it pretty well.”
But it hasn’t always been that way; IVCC had a three-game losing streak in the middle of last month.
“Sometimes they play a lot better than I thought they would,” said Polte. “But at other times you can’t believe it’s the same team that just put together a strong match in the last game.”
In a match at Danville on Sept. 27, the Lady Apaches were able to rally back from a 9-14 deficit in one of those games. IVCC went on to win the match in five games.
“It was such an awesome feeling when we got the win against Danville,” said sophomore standout Carolyn Bryant. “We all pulled together and we came back; we were a team I’d never seen before. We should play like this all the time.”
But that hasn’t happened as Bryant is hoping, at least not yet.
Bryant said her team has struggled against teams with less talent, but is able to ‘play up’ to tougher teams on the schedule. With 11 players on the Lady Apaches roster (last year’s 10-21 squad had only eight), the team has the depth to play consistently.
Bryant said passing is the key to the strength of the squad.
“Passing is really important, but it doesn’t really get a lot of credit,” said Bryant. “But if the passing isn’t good then we can’t get any good hits.”
Mix in some strong hitting from freshmen Lesley Senica, Linsey Sharp, and Katie Zeman; some digs from Kim Zimmerman; and some strong serving from Courtney Keenan and the team has a recipe for regional success. The tournament begins Nov. 3.
“Our goal is to win the first district game to get to the regional,” said Polte. “This team has a lot of talent; they’ll do well.”