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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Take into consideration what the Hutchinson
Community College volleyball team has accomplished in the past three
seasons:
+ The team has won 102 matches.
+ Win three straight Jayhawk West
championships, going undefeated in all three seasons.
+ Win three straight Region VI championships.
+ Place in the top eight at the NJCAA
national tournament, finishing fifth, eighth and seventh, respectively.
+ Produce six All-Americans.
+ Be ranked in every NJCAA national poll
during that span.
And yet, head coach Ronda Shirley, now in her
10th season, and her team remains hungry to reach even higher levels of
success.
“Our girls really have the drive to be
successful,” Shirley said. “It’s a matter of getting them together as a
group.”
The 2007 Lady Dragons have five returning
sophomores, four who saw playing time in a 24-15 season that ended with a
four-game victory over San Jacinto in the seventh-place match at the NJCAA
national tournament.
Sophomore middle Ludmila Amaral became the
third-straight Lady Dragon to earn Jayhawk West Freshman of the Year honors
and well as being named first-team all-Jayhawk West, first-team all-region
and second-team NJCAA All-American.
Amaral, who teamed up with first-team
All-American Brandi Hood (now at Texas Tech) last season to become the top
blocking tandem in HCC history, will be counted on heavily to match her
production of 3.02 kills and 1.24 blocks per game, while hitting a .317.
But one of the major questions of 2007 for
the Lady Dragons, who will work as HCC’s second middle?
“In the last three years, we have has two
extremely strong middles,” Shirley said. “As this year starts, we aren’t as
consistent from one player being in the front row to the other. We have
talented kids, but we don’t have a lot of experience. It’s my job to get
them ready by the end of the season.”
Experience, or lack of at many positions, is
also an overriding theme for the 2007 Lady Dragons.
Other than Amaral, only setter Karalee
Langford saw extensive playing time last season. Outside hitter Sarah Unruh
and libero KeAnne Langford had up-and-down freshmen seasons. Sophomore Nikki
Canon also returns after seeing limited action as a freshman.
Karalee Langford stepped in and provided a
spark in the last month of the season as the No. 2 setter in HCC’s 6-2
attack. In her first start last season, Karalee tallied 36 assists against
No. 3 and eventual national champion Iowa Western. She wound up averaging
4.31 assists per game.
Oregon freshman Melissa Gmur joins the
program this season to give Shirley a solid setting combination.
“Melissa brings a lot to our team with her
court smarts,” Shirley said. “She will really enhance our hitters this
season. Karalee’s matured so much as well. We will be as strong at setter as
we’ve been in the last couple of years.”
Unruh had her big-time moments as a freshman
with a 16-kill, 16 dig match against No. 1 Miami-Dade in the regular season
and a 12-kill, 10-dig outing against San Jacinto in the seventh-place match
at nationals. In 53 games last season, Unruh averaged 2.19 kills and 2.17
digs.
Also swinging from the outside will be
freshmen Kelli Johnson, Amanda Smith, Molly Bergkamp, Jennifer Reece and
LaToya Taylor.
“We have a lot of good freshmen,” Shirley
said.
KeAnne Langford leads what potentially could
be one of the best back rows in HCC history. KeAnne averaged 2.25 digs per
game last season. With freshmen Crystal Foss and Amanda Stucky added to the
libero/defensive specialist group, HCC’s floor defense will be scrappy and
fearless.
“I think our passing and floor defense will
take a step up,” Shirley said. “Brandi (Hood) was a huge force at the net
last year. Until we improve as a blocking team, our floor defense will be
put to the test.”
The Lady Dragons will play another
challenging schedule this season that should prepare for late-season
matchups with Barton County, Colby and Region VI.
Early-season matchups include meetings with
Missouri State-West Plains, Lake Land, Iowa Western and several other
nationally ranked foes.
“Last year, if we didn’t play as tough a
weekend schedule as we did, we would not have been as successful in league
and in the postseason,” Shirley said. “I think it will be the same this
year. We might take some bumps and bruises early, but when the big
conference and regional matches roll around, we will be mentally and
physically ready.”
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