By John Rittenhouse
The taste of success has left the members of the Hills-Beaver Creek High School volleyball team hungry for more.
After compiling a winning, 14-10 season in 2000, the 2001 Patriots would like to expand on that performance.
"I know the girls were really excited about finishing last year with an above .500 record, and they would like to improve on that this year," said second-year H-BC coach Nicole Fey.
"I think they have a good chance of doing that," she added. "We have four of six starters returning from last yearÕs team, so that should help."
Fey and the Patriots do have reason to be optimistic entering the new season.
H-BC lost four seniors to graduation, but the Patriots should be able to counter the loss with a strong senior class and a talented sophomore who could develop into one of the area's top hitters in 2001.
The first thing Fey must do is replace last year's seniors, who had their careers end in a disappointing way. H-BC earned the No. 4 seed for the 2000 Section 3A South Tournament, where it lost a 3-0 decision to No. 5 Fulda in the quarterfinal round.
Shanna Tilstra leaves the biggest shoes to fill. A player who rarely left the floor during her senior season, Tilstra played her way onto the final All-Tri-County Conference Team.
Jamie Arp, a right-side hitter, is another senior who graduated from the 2001 team.
Back row specialist Jamie Brandt and hitter Rachael DeHaan were the other senior members of the team that placed third in the T-CC with a 4-4 record one year ago.
As much as the 2000 seniors meant to last year's team, a new group of seniors will be in charge of leading a new band of Patriots into battle this fall.
Tonya Leenderts, a left-side hitter, has to be considered one of the team's top returnees from the senior class.
Leenderts is a returning starter who earned a spot on the All-T-CC squad as a junior.
Brittney Olson and LaDonna Sandstede also drew starting assignments as juniors.
Fey is looking for Olson to add some firepower to the team as a right-side hitter, but the coach will have to wait three or four weeks before putting Sandstede on the floor.
A full-time setter for the 2001 Patriots, Sandstede underwent surgery to have her appendix removed early last week. She's not expected to return to the floor until late September.
"We'll be without LaDonna for up to one month, which will hurt us. She was our No. 1 setter all of last season, and our hitters were used to her sets. ItÕs a bad deal, but we're fortunate this happened early in the season. At least now we have some time to work with a new setter before playing our first match," Fey said.
Sophomore Melinda Sandstede is expected to fill in for LaDonna to start the 2001 season.
Jana Hup, a player who Fey said has improved her game since last year, rounds out the 2001 seniors.
Hup, who picked up some playing time as a junior, will make an impact as a left-side hitter.
Erin Boeve, a 6-1 sophomore, returns as a starter from 2000. Boeve led the team in hitting as a freshman, making the All-T-CC team at season's end. She should be even more of an impact player this fall.
Fey is counting on Boeve and the seniors to take over the leadership roles for a team with a lot of potential.
"With four starters and five letter winners from last year's team coming back, we do have a lot of experience. What I like about them is that they are hard workers who do a good job of pushing each other in practice. They seem to be a lot more aggressive than they were last year, and I know a lot of them put time in during the off-season playing JO (Junior Olympic) volleyball or attending summer camps," she said.
Coach Fey will be counting on six juniors playing varsity volleyball for the first time to produce this fall.
Fey feels Jody Rentschler, a middle hitter, and defensive specialist Sarah Rozeboom are juniors who should help the team right away.
Right-side hitters Angie Bush and Melissa Fagerness and left-side hitters Angie Sjaarda and Kelsey Hansel will get the chance to produce at the varsity level, too.
As well as having some new players, the 2001 Patriots will be playing in a new conference. H-BC, Southwest Christian and Edgerton have joined the Red Rock Conference this year.
"Being in a new conference means playing a lot of different teams we haven't played before. We'll play every team (10 matches overall) in our conference once," Fey said.
The Patriots open the campaign by playing a road match against Sibley-Ocheyedan Tuesday.