After nearly two weeks of competing against each other, the Wakefield volleyball program of 20 was on display with an August 21 road jamboree.
The Trojans will once again be lead by second year head coach Heidi Brown.
She'll be joined by Tory Gemelke.
Seniors include Ashlyn Riewer, Sierra Kaufman, Gracyn Keagle, and Kinslee Metzler.
Wakefield volleyball worked as a team during open gyms while lifting and conditioning. The group also attended a few team camps during the month of July.
"We focused on playing good games and team bonding at our camps as well," said Brown.
Early in the season, Wakefield has been looking to improve their serve receive, passing and serving.
"We’ve set some goals for our serve receive to work towards," said Brown. "We have a start of season, mid-season then end of season measurable stats we want to work towards. (Also), we want to be more competitive in our conference."
Ashlyn Riewer will return as libero, Sierra Kaufman is a returning middle and Gracyn Keagle, who has played a little bit of everything, is a returning pin hitter.
All three will need to remain consistent to lead the younger players.
"I’m also excited about the entire freshman class," said Brown. "They all have a ton of potential. I’m really excited to see how things unfold in a couple different positions. It’s fun to watch players really work for a spot and be driven at practice. I’m hoping that carries over to our games."
Wakefield visited Winside on August 21 for a jamboree.
Wakefield is coming off a 12-19 season.
Riewer attended multiple college camps while putting the work in the gym.
"As a team we have been working all summer on solidifying our basic skills and competitive toughness," said Riewer. "As well as building our connections with incoming freshmen and building new relationships."
Her biggest focus is to make sure she is doing her job for the team and making sure the team stays in sync and relaxed. Riewer looks forward to taking more of a leadership role especially to the ones that are seeing the varsity stage for the first time.
Kaufman continued to work on serving, passing and hitting over the summer.
"These are the three aspects I focused on to be able to better help the team this season," said Kaufman. "Over the summer, the team reviewed a lot of the basics: passing, serving, setting and hitting. A big thing we have been focusing on is passing, serving and serve receive because without those, we can't really do anything else."
Some team goals set by the players include win the Wakefield Invite (Sept. 11 and 13), have 80% serving stat each match and end the season with a winning record.
With the younger team, Wakefield has been focusing on the basics and helping each other out.
"We need to get some things straightened out defensively," said Brown. "We need to finalize our rotations and continue to work on timing with our setters."
Riewer is looking forward to also playing with her sister, Quinn, a member of the freshman class.
"I think that's what makes this year so special to me and my family," said Riewer. "It has been so fun watching her grow into herself and same with the other freshmen, they are such a great class with a lot of potential."
Kaufman is eager to see how well the team is going to perform and grow from the beginning of the season until the end.
"I think our team dynamic and relationship is pretty good this year," said Kaufman. "Our team's attitudes stay pretty good through the highs and lows, and I'm excited to see how we apply to our season. Being a senior, I'm excited to go and have a great time playing volleyball with my team for one last season."
The Wakefield volleyball season will open on their home court on August 28 around 8 p.m. against West Point-Beemer for varsity competition.
Both Riewer and Kaufman would like to thank their family and friends as well as the Trojan community for your support.
"Thank you to my parents and coaches that do so much behind the scenes to make every season count," said Riewer. "Thank you to the football team and other students that try to get to every game, getting to play in a great atmosphere is something super special. And thank you to coach Brown and coach Gemelke for taking on the coaching job. (They) are doing such a great job with the team and keeping us on our toes."
"I would like to thank all the family and friends as they travel to support us," said Kaufman. "It means so much to the whole team that they take time out of their days to come watch us. It makes the environment more fun when they are all there to cheer us on and show their support."
The Wakefield Invite is set for Thursday, September 11 and Saturday, September 13 wth a complete schedule coming soon. Participating teams include Cedar Catholic, Elkhorn Valley, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, Lyons-Decatur Northeast, Pierce, Ponca and Tekamah-Herman.
Coach Brown added this is a fun group to watch.
"Team chemistry is so important in volleyball and I think this group has a good start to that," said Brown. "We will be young in some key spots and in my opinion watching young players is exciting...this group has the potential to make some big leaps during the season."
