Looking forward, not past their foes

What's coming up on the horizon might help shape the Minneota Vikings as a volleyball team.

It's the annual Midwest Volleyball Warehouse Tournament in Burnsville, and with some of the best teams in the state on hand, the best teams value and encourage the experience.

"So far we don't know who we play. The pairings haven't been made yet," said Minneota Coach Hayley Fruin on Tuesday night.

She explained, "There are a lot of games tonight (Tuesday) they wanted to use to make the pairings."

One thing is for sure, the easy 25-11, 25-7 and 25-11 sweep over Central Minnesota Christian Tuesday night really isn't what the 11-1 Vikings need. They need to be tested, "To see where we're at," said the coach.

Not that the coach and her players aren't greatful for every win — but when the the teams you're running up against are the best in the state, it kinda gives better understanding of just how good you are.

So far Minneota has sliced through the Camden Conference like a hot knife in butter with a 5-0 record.

But there have been things to work on — and to Coach Fruin's excitement, the hard work is paying dividends.

The projects starting to pay dividends include:

•Sophomore Abby Frie. The goal, get better at blocking and hit the ball harder. "She's hitting it harder than we've seen her hit (before)," said the coach. Tuesday night she battered 11 kills against CMC, the second best on the team after Abby Hennen's 14.

"It's all a matter of timing — and confidence. We want her to just hit the ball," the coach related. Fruin said Frie was starting to, "Do a better job of mixing her shots."

One of the exciting net moves of Minneota players in the past like Taylor Reiss and Lydia Sussner was the "slide move," where the hitter slides from the middle to the end of the net, leaps and turns while smashing the ball to the court.

"This is not her favorite hit. It's out of her comfort zone," said the coach. But Frie is beginning to take on the challenge and displayed the move a couple of times Tuesday night.

The other improved aspect of their game has come from Abby Rost, who not only had a nice series serving seven straight points to begin the second game, but who patroled the net like a cop on his night beat. "She's got good footwork," and "she hits her spots," said Coach Fruin.

A third asset has been Libero Ellie Pesch — who has become so dependable at serving that she's almost automatic. She nailed 18 of 18 serves against the Bluejays, with one ace. "You don't hear much from Ellie but she goies in and does what we ask her to do. She is our most disciplined defensive player," Coach Fruin added.

When you've got hard-hitters like Abby Hennen and Natalee Rolbiecki and an all-around stopper like Morgan Hennen, it's nice to have those others playing their role and doing their job.

By-the-way, Abby Hennen took over the second game with five staight kills at the net to vault Minneota into a 16-7 lead they never lost. Her effort allowed Coach Fruin to insert Reese Gillund into the game for a couple of nice hits and both Lyzah Sussner and Madison Sorensen onto the serving line.

Minneota will get one more tuneup at Dawson-Boyd Thursday night before heading to the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse, where they will face teams like: Academy of Holy Angels, BOLD, Barnesville, Belle Plaine, Bethlehem Academy, Byron Public Schools, Canby, Cannon Falls, Carlton, Cleveland, Concordia Academy, Fosston, Henning, Jackson County Central, Jordan, Kasson-Mantorville, Kenyon-Wanamingo, Kittson Central, Lake of the Woods, Lewiston-Altura, MACCRAY, Mabel-Canton, Maple Lake, Mayer Lutheran, Medford, New Life Academy of Woodbury, Norwood Young America, Nova Classical Academy, Park Rapids Area, Pequot Lakes, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Southwest Christian, Totino-Grace, Wabasha-Kellogg, Wabasso, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, Watertown-Mayer, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and Windom.

Statistics:

KILLS: Abby Hennen 14, Abby Frie 11, Natalee Rolbiecki 6.

DIGS: Rolbiecki 9, Morgan and Abby Hennen seven each.

SERVING: (No., good, aces) Abby Rost 18-18-3; Ellie Pesch 18-18-1; McKenna Yost 15-15-2; Lyzah Sussner 8-8-1.

BLOCKS: Abby Hennen 3, Rost, Rolbiecki, Frie 1 each.

SET ASSISTS: Ireland Stassen 23, McKenna Yost 14.