By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
Last year, the Burlington High School girls volleyball program did something no team had ever done at BHS before – win a WIAA Division 1 state title.
The pieces are there for the Demons to repeat, but how those pieces fit together is still a little bit of a mystery, and critical to the team’s success.
“I think it’s just going to take time,” said co-head coach Teri Leach. “It’s a lot of kids new to playing with each other. Knowing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and how we can compile all that together is going to take some time.”
The Demons return a number of letterwinners to this year’s team, including a loaded senior class of Ciara Capezio, Morganne Longoria and Kaysie Shebeneck – all of whom will be Division 1 scholarship signees in November.
But gone are seven seniors, the best senior class in memory for BHS and the source of last year’s cohesiveness.
“It means we need to create a new identity,” said Leach. “That team had been fairly stable for two years.
“This team needs to make its own identity.”
Capezio is a Division 1 commit to Minnesota as an outside hitter, and led the Demons in kills last year. Shebeneck, meanwhile, is headed to Texas A&M as a setter, but also can hit from the outside. Longoria, who is headed to Valparaiso, is the team’s libero for the third straight year.
All four will be four-year varsity starters for the Demons this fall, and are the team’s co-captains.
But while those three are set, filling the holes left by the departing seniors will be a bigger task. Right now, Leach said this squad is the deepest they’ve ever had, which is both a blessing and a curse. There are another 12 players on the varsity roster, with many around the same talent level.
“We haven’t really set into anything,” said Leach of her conversations with fellow co-coach Dan Lynch. “When Dan and I looked back at the scrimmage (Saturday) … we saw some good things, but we were looking for something else.
“That’s what we’ll be looking at this week is some more cohesiveness. We have been trying different things.”
Fellow seniors Abbey Schmalfeldt (utility) and Sam Webb (DS/OH) could fit into the mix, as could sophomores Robyn Robers (OH), Sarra Webb (DS) and Leah Hofer (MH). All five were on the varsity roster last year and saw playing time.
Newcomers include junior Erika Krause (OH), sophomore Teagan Taylor (DS) and freshmen Quinn Spieker (OH), Ali Rueter (RS/S), Phoebe Hozeska (MH), Talyn Lewis (MH) and Emma Fettig (S). Spieker, Rueter and Hozeska were all starters on the U-14 squad that won a national championship this summer in club volleyball.
How all those players fit is the question.
“We know we have the pieces,” Leach said. “It’s how they fit together best is going to be the challenge the next few weeks.
“We’re fussy. We want perfection.”
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