Molly Hennen (left) was once one of the Hennen girls on the volleyball court at state. Now, she’s moved her career in the direction of coaching and teaching and got a chance to broadcast Minneota State Championship. Here she and Paul Raymo broadcast over Q-92 of Madison.

On the air! Molly Hennen off the court

Molly Hennen remembers well those times on the volleyball court when she helped her team to the state tournament. But since then she’s been to college and earned her degree, trained herself to coach volleyball, began a career in teaching and on the side — broadcasts volleyball games.

“It brings back memories,” Molly said when she watches and broadcasts her sisters Abby and Morgan playing for the Minneota Vikings State Champions. Now a third grade teacher in Appleton, Molly was the B Squad Coach for the Lac qui Parle Valley volleyball team this fall.

“I love it,” she said about teaching. “When I was a junior in high school I helped out in kindergarten,” she said. Then she worked part time at the “Y” in Marshall and began to understand how much she loved the kids. When she was younger, her mother Missy noticed Molly worked well with kids.

“You have good patience,” she was told. Way back then she determined she wanted to be a teacher. “In Appleton, we have good support and they are all nice,” she said about the other teachers. As an assistant coach, Molly got her opportunity to coach a varsity game this year.

“Our head coach is in her first year and she’s pregnant. Once she got sick and I had to coach the varsity and the B Squad,” she said. And perhaps one of the exciting times came when Lac qui Parle Valley played at Minneota.

“It was different being in the gym and not cheering for Minneota,” she said. But inside, she was watching her sisters play for the Vikings and she was enjoying it.

“I didn’t get to see them play much this year,” said Molly. Her Eagle B squad team ended with an 8-4 record, so Molly felt, “We did pretty well.”

She started coaching with the Minneota team a couple of years ago — and now that she’s getting varsity and JV experience, she hopes someday to coach her own team.

Molly Hennen is just part of a group of former Vikings now coaching. Megan Larson joined the bunch this year as a JV coach in Jordan after graduating from SMSU in Marshall.

Leah Fadness is the head coach at Yellow Medicine East in Granite Falls, Taya Kockelman is the assistant volleyball coach and head basketball coach in Redwood Falls and of-course, Hayley (Hennen) Fruin coaches the Minneota Vikings.

“I coached seventh grade in Minneota last year and got experience and got my foot in the door,” she said.

When she broadcasts Minneota volleyball games, she admits, “A little more of me is for Minneota. Part of me is for my little sisters, but I think I’m harder on them,” she said.

She admitted she does enjoy watching Abby and Morgan play. Her sister Kelsey, whom she played with for the Vikings, also broadcasts some games on Q-92 and during the state tournament, they got a chance to work together for a brief time.

Molly, who was the consummate team player, recalls who Kelsey used to pull her aside and say, “Molly get your head in the game. We’re going to win this one.”

And that helped Molly look up to her older sister. The oldest Hennen girl in the Missy and Steve Hennen family is Samantha, who began the long string of Hennens on the volleyball team.

“Abby is the baby but she’s pretty mature for her age. She’s done well for how young she is,” said Molly. When she looks back on her career, she recalls a game with Canby in which Minneota trailed 2-0 and came back to win — and a similar section game with MACCRAY, that Minneota also won in five sets.

“Thinking back, I always had the attitude to win. I didn’t mind feeding the ball to our post player (in basketball) or playing good defense. We had so many scorers, I never had too,” she said.

Molly has always felt fortunate to have had a chance to play with Taylor Reiss, who now has been named a three-time National Volleyball Player of the Year.

“It’s really cool to say I played with her — and Megan Larson, too. I never expected to see her (Taylor) do that well. But she is so good and jumps so well.” It’s been an exciting life for Molly Hennen.

But in so many ways, it’s only just beginning. And she isn’t done calling games on the radio with her sisters on the court.

Abby has two more years and Morgan one more ... and chances are Molly will be around to watch.

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