No place like Ohm

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Martin Luther College senior Melodie Ohm is not the type to lounge around at home on her days off.

In fact, she gets rather bored doing nothing.

That's why she worked as many as six jobs over the summer and still found time to play volleyball on her time away from work.

"I was reffing volleyball out at Kegel and playing and working at a daycare center," Ohm said. "I like to have a lot of variety in the things that I do just to be a better person. I like to keep going and I like to constantly being doing something. I can't sit at home for more than an hour."

Ohm, a 5-foot-11 middle hitter from New Ulm, will be counted on to lead a squad that features four freshman, four sophomores, five juniors and herself, the lone senior. She said her role on the team has changed significantly since her first year on the squad.

"My freshman year I started out and they had a lot of good starters, so my role was basically to learn how practice was going and to get to know the girls and get to feel the chemistry," Ohm said. "Last year already, I started middle and it started to really pick up and this year I realize that this is my year to step up."

If the Knights want another season like they enjoyed last year, Ohm will indeed have to step up and form a strong presence in the middle.

Ohm has set a number of goals for herself heading into her final season. She would like to take the next step and become one of the elite players in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, and she also wants to be the one of the players who her teammates look to in the game to spark the offense. She finished the 2002 year with 132 kills.

"I'd like to be one of the top players in the conference, and I would like to be one of the go-to girls on the team and not just playing-wise, but also leadership," Ohm said. "I feel that I know all those girls and I feel that they can trust me and I trust them and we've got a good relationship going. I would like to be that person who they feel comfortable going to."

MLC coach Drew Buck is at the helm again this year and has really appreciated Ohm's maturation as a player.

"She's gotten a lot stronger in the middle and it's going to be evident this year that we need the middle game to keep us going," he said. "We've got some young setters, but I think we've got some middle attackers now that have been around for three or four years and I think that's going to help us."

Buck also said that she's played a bigger role at practice knowing that it's her job to be a leader.

"I think she's stepped it up a notch," he said. "I think she knows, that being the oldest one of the group, that I think she's taking on more responsibility being a team leader and hopefully everybody will follow her lead."

The Knights lost a lot key members at most of the positions last year. MLC finished 22-7 overall and 4-1 in UMAC play. This year's team has a ways to go to get back to what the 2002 team accomplished, but Ohm is not worried and she expects 2003 to be another good year for the Knights.

"We'd like to finish in the top if not the very top of the conference, and even though we have a young team and people don't really expect us to do as well as we have in the past, I think that we've got enough that we can come back."

Returning to the team are juniors Bethany Bauer (DS), Beth Bertolus (OH), Crystal Mielke (MH), Tiffany Wendt (MH) and Becky Hahn. Wendt and Bauer were both all-conference last year.

The sophomore class includes Emma Babinec (Setter), Lisa Festerling (OH), Leah Morgan (OH) and Katie Hermanson. Danielle Kramer, Emily Buck, Rachel Meyer and Katie Bertolus are all freshman.

Buck emphasized that the returning players are going to have to have strong years in order for another successful season.

"I think Tiffany Wendt will be one of our biggest ones in the middle," he said. "She's going to have to have another strong outing again this year. She came on strong last year as a sophomore and kind of got thrown into things a little bit earlier than we thought because of an injury, so she's had ample playing time.

"Another one, Bethany Bauer -- our libero or defensive specialist in the back from last year -- agian, we'll need her good floor play as well."

With five seniors absent from last year's team, Buck is still in the process of finding the team's strengths and working them to their advantage. One area in particular the Knights are trying to improve on is the setter position, where Babinec returns with brief playing time from last year, and two freshman, who are still learning the college game.

"I still think we're still trying to find what our strength's are," he said. "We lost a lot of bodies from key positions that we're looking to fill. We're young at the setter position even though Emma Babinec played for us last year, she still had very very little setting time, so she's virtually new. And then we have Emily [Buck] and Katie Hermanson, who have none. So for us to be able to get to where we need to be, the passing game's going to have to pick up."

With the first game of the season at 6 p.m. today at MLC against Dakota State, Ohm is ready to begin her final year and wants to make it as positive as she can.

"Winning is always nice, but its always a lot better to know that you played as hard as you could each and every game and you gave it everything that you had and didn't get mad at each other,"" she said. "Things are going to happen where balls are going to drop and you just have to say 'hey, let's get it the next time.'"