Aug. 10, 2007

Although many of the players on this year's Northeastern Junior College (NJC) Plainswomen volleyball team are the same, the make-up of the squad will be a little different.

NJC returns five sophomores with plenty of fire power who helped lead the team to a 37-9 mark last season and runner-up in the Region IX South Tournament.

Returning sophomores are Thais Hollerbach from Porto Alegre, Brazil; Addi Radke from Corvallis, Ore.; Jessica Tjaden from Julesburg; Tamy Leipelt from Porto Alegre and Brittany Palmer from Colorado Springs.

In addition, NJC has one sophomores who re-shirted last year,Dayna Jenkins from Ordway.

Radke and Hollerbach, outside hitters, are returning starters from last year as is Leipelt, who is a middle hitter. Hollerbach led the Plainswomen in kills and digs while being selected to the All-Region IX Team last year as well as being named All-American.

Leipelt and Radke were also selected to the All-Region IX Team. Those three, along with Palmer, were named to the All-Region IX South Tournament Team.

Freshmen on the squad this year are Kristin Gardiner from Peetz; Suyan Leipelt (Tamy's sister) from Porto Alegre; Alexis Brian from Villa Grove; Caroline Ratterree from Falcon and Ashley Dickerson from Palmer, Alaska, the same town as fomer All-American standout Emily Sakis.

Dickerson is a middle hitter and the other four freshmen are outside hitters.

Each and every year the Plainswomen receive national attention by being ranked in the National Junior College Athletic Association polls, and last year was no exception as NJC broke into the top 10. Last year NJC advanced to the championship round of the Region IX South Tournament before falling to Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC). Both teams met six times last year with WNCC winning each match. However, NJC pushed WNCC to four and five games each match. WNCC went on to take second in the NJCAA National Tournament.

With the sophomores returning this year, along with a talented freshman class, NJC Coach Marci Henry has every reason to be optimistic about the 2007 season. (Henry is entering her 10th season as head coach of the Plainswomen).

"Our expectations for this year are again very high," she said. "Again we expect Western Nebraska to be the main competition in the region. I think we helped make them a better team with our competitiveness and prepared them for the national tournament. "I look for our team to be just as competitive this season, if not more."

One big change in the make-up of the Plainswomen team this year will be at the setter position. Last year Palmer led the team in assists as she shared the setting duties with sophomore Stacy Manweiler. This year Palmer will move to the back row as the libero while Tjaden will be the setter as the Plainswomen will run a 5-1 offense. Tjaden was a right side hitter last year as a freshmen, but Henry expects the former Julesburg star to have no problem making the adjustment to setter and Palmer to libero.

"We tried a few things in the spring," she said, "and going into this season we thought we would be stronger moving Brittany into the libero position," she said. "She is a very good passer and serve receiver as well as a defensive player and we can keep her on the floor more often than just three rotations as a setter. "Jessica has always had good hands, so we started working on her footwork as a setter and she did pretty well. She looks like she has been setting her whole life."

Henry added that Tjaden will also be a big block on the front row as she stands at 5-10. "That gives us a little more size with a 5-1 offense and a bigger block," she said.

Tjaden will have plenty of weapons to set up the offense with in Hollerbach, Tamy Leipelt and Radke.

"Those three had a very productive season last year," Henry recalled. "We hope that with a year under their belts and a little more maturity that they will do even more this year." Henry also expects the freshman class to push the sophomores to be even stronger this year.

"The freshmen will challenge the sophomores to play right side and middle as well," she said. "Across the board the girls are all about the same height with the exception of a couple of players, so just about any outside hitter that we have could potentially be a middle hitter. "But right now it's too early to tell who will break into the starting lineup. We will need to play a few matches and see who rises to the occasion."

Henry stressed that leadership and ability of the sophomores will be the main strengths of the Plainswomen this year. "Everyone on the list is very competitive," she said. "They hate to lose, and that can drive you a little harder in practice. We're excited to get the season started."

NJC will open the 2007 season Aug. 24-25 in the South Sub-Region Pre-Season Tournament at WNCC in Scottsbluff. The first opponent for NJC will be Trinidad State College on Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m. At 7:45 p.m. the Plainswomen will take on Otero Junior College. On Aug. 25 NJC will play McCook, Neb. Community College at 11 a.m., Lamar Community College at 12:15 p.m. and WNCC at 2:45 p.m. "Our first goal this year is to win the South Sub-Region," Henry said. "We will see all of the teams in the South Sub-Region Tournament that we will see in the regional tournament in November. "So we are hoping the tournament will give us the opportunity to play a lot of players and see the other teams and what offenses and defenses they are going to run. "We are going to look a lot different than we did last year, we should be more athletic in some key positions."

NJC's first home match of the season will be Wed., Aug. 29 against North Platte, Neb. Community College.