MVL wants another shot

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- By just about anyone's reckoning, the 2001 volleyball season was an incredibly pleasant surprise for the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers. This year, the Chargers want to show it wasn't a fluke.

MVL will begin its season with a nonconference match against Sibley East at Gaylord Thursday.

The Chargers went 18-5 last season. They were 8-1, finished second in the Tomahawk Conference behind Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, and stunned perennial Class 1A power Buffalo Lake-Hector.

"They're very excited about repeating the success of last year," MVL coach Julie Detjen said. "In fact, they're looking forward to doing better. They were really disappointed with how they played in the playoffs."

Detjen wasn't around when the Chargers were unceremoniously dismissed from the Section 3-2A tournament by Renville County West. Detjen takes over from Ron Ohm; she spent the last three years as head coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee and was also the head coach at Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, Wis., for four years.

The Chargers have already taken a liking to Detjen.

"We love our new coach," senior Emily Buck said. "She has a really good knowledge of the game and she makes it fun for us."

Buck is one of at least four returning starters for the Chargers, and one of at least seven players who saw varsity action in 2001. Buck shared setting duties last season with Katie Hermanson, leading the Chargers with 13.1 set assists per match.

At 5-foot-9, Buck also saw time in the front row in 2001. She could see some more this season. Buck will be the setter when MVL uses a 5-1 offense, but will get some swings in the 6-2. Junior Holly Enter is the likely candidate to be the Chargers' second setter.

Buck has no problem with leaving the setting duties to someone else, every now and then anyway.

"(Coach Detjen) wants me to hit, too," Buck said, "and I do love them both. I do like to hit every once in awhile."

While the Chargers do lack a dominating hitter, the one thing they do not lack is height. Again the tallest team in the Tomahawk, MVL returns seniors Jessica Merseth and Angie Unke.

Merseth is 6-foot and Unke is 6-foot-2. Both are likely to split time in the Chargers' middle.

Senior Danielle Kramer and junior Kelsey Black also return. Neither one is short either -- Kramer is 5-foot-9 and Black is 5-foot-10.

"I've never had anybody six feet tall or taller before, even when I coached in college," Detjen said. "It's a godsend to me. We need to learn how to use it in the most efficient manner. If I got the height, I'm going to use it."

Kramer, playing the outside, led the Chargers with 7.6 kills per match last season. Also hitting from the outside, Black averaged 6.2 kills per match.

In the middle, Unke averaged 4.7 kills and Merseth 2.9.

That likely will be the theme this season. MVL will be a team of many hitters.

"We've got good hitters," Buck said. "We're working on our passing. We've got a lot of people who can hit, so we can spread it around."

Defensively, every opponent's focus will first be in the middle -- the front middle. Unke and Merseth were MVL's leading blockers last season -- Merseth led with 2.7 blocks per match and Unke added 2.1 per match.

But the Chargers have concerns. Last season, their defense was streaky. One of the big problems was communication. And it's not that the Chargers didn't get along -- they often couldn't get together on the court.

That's been the Chargers' focus.

"You know, we won (in 2001), but it wasn't pretty all the time," Buck said. "But now we've got good team chemistry."

Added Detjen: "I've been drilling defense for the last week and a half, because they said they lacked communication. They've made great strides in the practices we've had."

Enough that the Chargers believe that last season wasn't a fluke.

"We're going to have fun and win this season, we're going to do both," Buck said. "We'll be able to do fine."