VOLGA The Sioux Valley volleyball team is coming off of a state tournament appearance, but the Cossacks lost a lot of production from that team. However, the Cossacks have gotten off to a solid start and believe with a strong senior class they have the opportunity to have another successful season.
Sioux Valley has won two of its first three matches this season. The Cossacks beat Deuel in four sets to open the year and then lost in five sets to Clark/Willow Lake before sweeping Parker/Marion.
The Cossacks lost their top two hitters from last season in Adison Renkly and Kaedyn Sapp. That has made for an interesting transition for head coach Jill Vincent, but she feels there are a lot of players that can contribute and it has been more of a group effort so far this year.
We always looked to [Sapp and Renkly] for big plays and if we needed for them to get a kill, they would get it. So now, we have to mix it up and everyone has to pull their weight. We would like for everyone to have about six kills and maybe someone gets 10. We dont want the other team to know where the ball is coming from and then everyone needs to be a productive person. So they have to be able to kill it or put it in play at some point. I think so far, for the most part, weve done that, Vincent said.
Sioux Valley has nine seniors this year. Vincent said many of them have made an impact early in the year but one player in particular has stepped into a new role.
Lacey Langland has always been that kind of third or fourth hitter and now shes stepped up and said give me the ball. I want the ball and l want to kill it. She has that confidence. Everyone else is producing around her and shes been giving that energy, Vincent said.
Seniors Talya Vincent and Caitlin Russell trade off as libero for the Cossacks and Jill Vincent said both players give her some consistency in the back row.
I love my duo, my two twins, Talya [Vincent] and Caitlin [Russell]. When theyre back there, serve receive is kind of spot on and if theyre going to get that first ball, hitters have to be ready to hit. I feel like they get us off on the right foot and the right direction, Vincent said.
Sioux Valley also lost Sunny Hesby at the setter position. Vincent has turned to senior Cameron Uecker and freshman McKinley Schwab at that position early in the year and will add Machaela Gerasch to the lineup after she missed the first couple matches of the season.
I think [Uecker and Schwab] have stepped right in and made our team work. Theyve been really working on getting the ball mixed around and getting it to different people. Getting the ball off of the net a little bit and not so tight that weve put it in the past. But theyve stepped right in. Machaela Gerasch was with the guards and she was a setter last year and just came back yesterday. Were going to try to mix her in and so, were a work in progress,” Vincent said.
Making it to the State Tournament was a huge achievement for the Cossacks last season. Vincent said losing Sapp, Renkly and Hesby makes things tough but she feels like they have a good group of veteran players that play as a team.
Anytime you lose people like Kaedyn Sapp, she affects every aspect of the game, Vincent said. Serving, digging, passing, serve receiving, kills, everything. Youre going to miss that. But when you talk about 80 percent of our offensive kills went out the door, thats hard. Weve always said that this years [senior] class has the passers and [last years] had the hitters and the blockers.
So, this year, we really have to transition and work on the blocking aspect of things and getting closed. A lot of different people have different roles. They dont just play outside hitter. They have to play multiple positions because its whats best for our team, and theyve just embraced that. We have a really good cohesive group. Theres a lot of seniors and they know what they want to do, and theyre sore losers, so that really helps.
The Cossacks host Beresford on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
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