Aug. 19, 2007

STERLING -- It's only the first week and just the third day of practices for the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen volleyball team but they already look good.

And they mean business.

Last season the Plainswomen reached the championship round of the Region IX South Tournament where they hit a wall, falling to Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC). That was the sixth match that season that NJC was defeated by the No. 1 team in the Nation - a team that ended up as National runner-up.

Still, that doesn't seem to bother head coach Marci Henry, entering her tenth year guiding the program. Assistant coach Robby Haley enters his 11th year involved in the program.

Northeastern returns six sophomores from last season: Thais Hollerbach, Addi Radke, Tamy Leipelt, Brittany Palmer, Jessica Tjaden and Dayna Jenkins (red-shirted). The women finished with an overall record of 37-9 last year and finished ranked No. 14 nationally in the final regular season polls on Nov. 1.

Hollerbach led the team with 94 aces, which according to njcaa.org was 13th most nationally, and was second on the team with 453 digs. She also had 505 kills which ranked her 16th in the nation.

Radke had 67 aces, which was third most on her team. She also contributed with 326 digs (third most) and was second with 461 kills. She averaged 3.7 kills per game.

Leipelt turned it on from about the middle of the season and finished strong towards the end. Even with a late start, she had the second best hitting efficiency on the team at 34.7 percent. She also contributed with 78 aces and 107 blocks, both of which ranked her second on the team.

Palmer shared time with Stacy Manweiler at the setter position last year, but led the team with 807 assists in 2006 (6.4 per game). There has been talk that she could move or share time at the libero position, but she was taking some reps at setter during practice Friday afternoon.

Jessica Tjaden didn't see much playing time last year as a right side hitter or setter, but comes into this season stronger and faster than a year ago. She does have some experience, collecting six aces, 18 total blocks, 55 kills and 45 digs. She looks to share time at the setter position with Palmer.

Jenkins is a defensive specialist who could see some time in the back row with Jenny Andresen graduating.

A late addition to the Plaiswomen roster is 6'3" right side hitter, Brittany Larson, who is transferring from the University of Central Oklahoma. "Brittany puts up a big block and has potential to be a very good hitter from the right side", stated coach Henry. "She adds some depth in the position for us and for that we are very excited."

"We had a really good year with this group last season," Henry said. "We hope that after a year of experience under their belts, they will do even more to improve on that."

The freshman class for NJC is a unique one, due to the fact that many of them are learning new positions and techniques that they might have not been familiar with at the high school level. Regardless they have proved to already establish themselves as quick learners.

Freshman on the team are: Kristin Gardiner from Peetz, Alexis Eliades from Villa Grove, Caroline Ratterree from Falcon, and Ashley Dickerson from Palmer, Alaska.

Suyan Leipelt is another freshman on the team, from Porto Alegre, Brazil, and she is the sister of sophomore Tamy Leipelt.

"I'm pretty pleased with this freshman class that Robby and I have brought in this year," Henry said. "We're asking them to play in some positions that are different from what they are used to and they're just great as a whole. They are open and willing to try new things and that will definitely contribute to our success."

Two-a-day practices started this past Wednesday, taking over the Jackson & Edwards gym from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and once again concluding with afternoon practices from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

"The girl's are tired and sore right now," Henry said. "Practice has gone pretty good even with how fatigued they are. We've worked on a lot of things defensively and have worked a lot on our ball control, so I'm pretty pleased with where we are right now."

In the mix, the Plainswomen are working on plenty of things during their practice sessions. They would like to be more solid about the smaller aspects of the game, so the bigger aspects come more natural.

Just after three days, Coach seems confident on what the season could potentially look like.

"I'll be disappointed if we don't do some of the same things that we did last year," Henry said. "We have a really strong core of our team that are back from last year and I think with a little bit of time, and some patience with our freshman, there should be no reason why we can't equal and expand from last season."

NJC will open the 2007 season with a pre-season tournament that is set to take place Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24 and 25 at the campus of Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The first opponent for the team at the South Sub-Region Pre-Season Tournament will be Trinidad State College on Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m.

All eyes will be set on the final game of the tournament which features a match-up with WNCC at 2:45 p.m. Saturday.

"Of course everyone always talks about tbe match between us and WNCC and this year should be no different. I am sure Western will have a strong team again this season, so it should be another good match between two conference rivals. I wouldn't expect anything other than a tight match between two good teams early in the season", stated assistant coach Rob Haley.

"This type of competition and excitement is why we play the game"