Reloading, not rebuilding - Tiger volleyball preview

The 2008 Tigers volleyball team has a new motto — ‘Go hard or go home.’ Through two weeks of practice, no one is ready to walk out of the door.

Faced with replacing five starters from a year ago, Hutchinson isn’t exactly in rebuild mode. In fact, the Tigers figure to be reloading with a group of girls that have been waiting for their shot.

With that in mind, Hutchinson still has a goal of playing post-season volleyball in November.

Finding the varsity team
Tigers head coach Dennis Piechowski begins his fourth year with the team, having compiled a record of 63-13 along the way.

With three straight 20-plus win seasons behind him, Piechowski and his coaching staff, which introduces newcomer Staci Butler, returning assistant Andrea Pearson and newly promoted Tim Carroll, the biggest task this pre-season has been finding the 12 best players for varsity.

After an intense camp saw 18 players whittled down to 12, the next job was finding the starting six.

“We started the season knowing we still had a good group of kids back from last year’s team, but only a few of them really have had a lot of varsity game experience,” Piechowski said. “So, coming into this year we had a huge amount of question marks. This is the first year in my four where we had to replace more than one starter. As a coaching staff, this fourth year is the big year for us to see how well we are developing talent at the other levels.”

Early indications are good as a freshman (Sara Carlson) and sophomore (Kayla Tronick) join the varsity team for the second straight year.

“We have a lot of new faces — a lot of girls that haven’t played together in this system. So, the first part of the season is working out the potential kinks. The team you see (this) week could change by playoff time,” the coach said.

One thing is certain, senior co-captain Laura Carlson is the team’s top option at the net. The team leader in kills the past two seasons, Carlson could see even more looks in her final year.

“This is Laura’s fourth year, so she’s been through it. She’s been injured at times, but has worked back each time and been one of our top hitters the past four years. She’s been in big games — conference title games, section finals and semifinals — so, it’s great to have her on the floor,” Piechowski said.

The coach describes Carlson as a “quiet leader that leads through her actions on the court.”

The team also returns senior outside hitters Carissa Hahn and co-captain Allysa Lund, who is in her second year of varsity.

Hahn, who suited for the playoff run in 2005, will likely be the starter opposite Carlson to begin the season.

Freshman Sara Carlson and junior Megan Rohlik are two other options on the outside.

In the middle, junior Mackenzie Piechowski returns from a backup role a season ago. With Kim Hacker at Bemidji State University and Ashley Murtha transferring to Eastview, two spots in the middle open up.

Piechowski, along with junior Miranda Carlson and sophomore Kayla Tronick have the early edge, but sophomore Jessica Zieman could be moved up from junior varsity. Juniors Jessa Guggisberg and Tessa Ewert will serve as the team’s two defensive specialists this season.

Hutchinson hosts Annandale (1-0) at 7 p.m. tonight.

To read more about the Tigers, make sure to pick up a copy of the 12-page sports section in Thursday's print edition.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.