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Show Sophomore-heavy v-ball team should be stronger next year . f( f i j r Christi Schlenske (far left) sets ball for teammate. Other Miners on the front line are "Theresa Lints (middle) and Wendy Smith. by JIM SMEDLEY Record staff writer They were the toast of Park City last year. The high school volleyball team, laden with seniors, rolled to a 9-1 season and then won the regional championship; which they hosted. The Miners went on to take third in the state championships after being beaten by Green River, who eventually even-tually won the state championship. But that was last year this year has been a different story. Former head coach Kari Culp left incoming Coach Kelly Walker with only one senior that had experience with the team. There were plenty of sophomores, but they had rarely played together. Plus the volleyball team stepped up to 2-A status. There was every indication that this was going to be a tough year. And it was. The varsity squad finished the-season the-season with a 3-11 mark and the JV team was 4-3. "It was hard for us to lose all those games, especially when we so close in many of them," Coach Walker said. "But the team has steadily improved im-proved and will definitely be better when we take the court next year. "We have some good people coming com-ing up from the JV team and I expect ex-pect that this year's sophomores will play better together," she added. Advancing to the varsity will be Dana Richman and Brigitte Price and possibly Julie Hill. Walker has plans for Richman as the setter and may change the alignment of the team from a 6-2 to a 5-1 . In a 6-2, all players are considered hitters and two have the job of setting set-ting the ball. In a 5-1 alignment, only one player is the designated setter and five are hitters. The team's two setters, Erin Bolton and Christi Schlenske, are graduating. Senior Lesa Cheng also will be leaving. Bolton has been with the team for three years while . Schlenske and Cheng just joined the squad this past season. Walker said Cheng was a fine addition to the team and although she did not start, she was a strength off the bench. "Lesa was always ready to play and she was a good server," Walker said. "Erin and Christi were good setters but they didn't mix up the offense of-fense as well as they could have." The core of the returning team is Stacy Cofer, Jody Olsen, Wendy Smith, Theresa Lints and Holly Elkins. "Our real problem was that we didn't work well together as a team. We didn't know each other very well," Walker said. "However, individual in-dividual skills improved through the season and next year I expect team play to be much better. "We also had trouble this year in trying to find the right rotation. We did a lot of switching around to find the combination that worked well," Walker added. "Often, we would have a strong rotation and then as we shifted in the game it grew weaker and we would lose momentum." momen-tum." The team received an ample amount of coaching, as Walker was aided by three assistants throughout the season. Glenelle Oberrich helped the team early in the season, but had to leave as work and night classes prevented her from attending practices. Oberrich Ober-rich played volleyball at Montana State University for three years and Washington State University for one year. She was replaced by Allyson Ker-win, Ker-win, who played at Humboldt State University in California. Walker said Kerwin bought some new drills, a new style and plenty of good ideas to the team. Steve Kaybac also helped the team. He played at Cal State-Berkeley State-Berkeley and was an assistant coach there. "All three bought a variety of styles, which was good exposure for our girls and they had good coaching techniques because they were former players," Walker said. "Their help was invaluable as it is hard to run a practice with that many girls yourself. They definitely added encouragement and discipline." . The change in schedule may also help the team. This year five matches mat-ches were on the road, while only three were played at home. The schedule reverses next year. |