Young Scots pound the hardwood

by Mallory Mulvihill
Sports Editor

The Monmouth College women's volleyball team looks to continue the progress they made from last season this year. While eighth year coach Kari Shimmin lost three of her starting seniors in Molly Pendergrass, Heather Randall, and Maria Shepard, she brought in another phenomenal freshman recruiting class that expects to add to the strong sophomore class that Shimmin brought in last season which won 22 games and lost only 12.

The Scots welcome back the lone senior on the team, Karissa Murray, who according to Shimmin is, “One of few players she has coached who has improved every single year. She leads by example and as a senior, is at the top of her game. She played beach volleyball over the summer, and just learned an immense amount of ball control.” Murray finished last season with 363 kills, 431 digs, and 61 aces which earned her an All Conference selection from the Midwest Conference. Also back is junior Kari Jefferson, who in 44 games had 52 kills. Other juniors are Heather Giacobazzi, Melissa Haverback, and Yvonne Sample.

The women boast a very large underclassmen group which is led in large part by a strong sophomore class. Taking over Randall's fulltime setting duties is Colleen Wilkin, from Fulton High School . Wilkin shared duties with Randall last season and tallied 562 assists. She sets up her big middle and fellow Fulton teammate Kendra James, who last year led the team in blocks with 122 and added 284 kills. This earned the then freshman All Conference honors. The Fulton trio is completed by Jessica Phillips, who saw limited playing time last year, but still contributed 18 kills and 29 blocks. Contributing to the middle position and being handed more playing time this season is Jessi Ott. The 5'10 middle tallied 156 kills and 58 blocks. Another big force hitting outside, is Jessica Travis. Travis, who played all the way around, contributed 308 kills and 378 digs. Continuing her duties as a big 6'2 right side hitter, Ashley Yeast returns to the squad after posting 137 kills and 48 blocks. Yeast and James set up quite an intimidating blocking wall both being over 6 feet tall. Rounding out the returning sophomores are Megan Boesche, Jennifer Hass, and Cassie Tangeny

The Scots welcome in a large freshman class. Newcomer Amanda Boonstra will turn the Fulton trio into a quartet which with James, Wilkin, and Phillips led the 2003 Fulton squad to the quarterfinals of the state championship. Roseville-Yorkwood Emily Colclasure, who is ranked 16th in the IHSA all-time assist list with 2,019 will join the squad, and will back up Wilkin after she returns from an injury. Fellow teammate Janelle McDonald also joins the team. The women's front line brings in United's Anna Damos and Rockridge's Samantha Robinson, who are both coming off 200-kill seasons. Robinson has the Rockridge school record in blocks with 86, and Damos added 162 digs to her stellar senior season. Splitting time at the libero position is Jessica Serritella from St. Charles North and Crystal Myers from Byron. Rounding out the freshman class is, Ashley Parer, Felicia Roberts, Tanesha Hughes, Samantha Robinson, and Amanda Mietzler.

“Yeah we are a young squad with only two upperclassmen, but what we lack in experience we make up in intensity, hardwork and competitiveness,” said Shimmin. “We expect a lot from this season, and one of our goals is to win conference. Grinnell will be a scary team this year, and we always have to watch out for Norbert, IC, and Lake Forest . We just want to stick together and keep our team unity and try and be as consistent as we possibly can.”

Along with a whole new year and a whole new squad, the team welcomes some new rules and a new coach. Brenda Mills takes on junior varsity along with assisting the varsity squad. She played for Shimmin at the right side and middle positions and graduated in 2002.

The women also welcome in some new rule changes. The normal, plain, white ball has been officially changed to a multi-colored ball. Which according to Shimmin, will make it easier to read the speed and spin of the ball off a block. The rules to the Midwest Conference annual crossover tournament, in which teams from the north division meet teams from the south division, has gone from Beloit hosting all 25 matches to Monmouth hosting 10 of those matches in a two week period. “This gives us more of an advantage to win this tournament. We don't have many home games this year, and to have this tournament at home will help us out a lot,” said Shimmin.

The women participated in the UW-Platteville on Sept. 9 and 10. They played some of the top 25 teams in the nation with Elmhurst College is ranked 12th, UW-Lacrosse is ranked 14th and UW-Plateville is ranked 16th., and made a very ambitious schedule to better prepare themselves for the end of the season. The Scots took on a strong UW- Lacrosse team on Sept. 9 and lost in three games: 30-25, 31-29, 30-21. Travis led the team in kills with 13 and James added 9. The Scots then took on Elmhurst College and lost in straight sets: 30-19, 30-25, 30-24. Travis again led the team in kills with 6 and 11 digs. On Saturday Sept. 10, the women stepped onto the court to play the host of the tournament UW-Plateville losing in three: 30-26, 30-14, 30-17. James led the team in digs with 10. In the final game of the weekend, the Scots played a hard fought four game match: losing 30-27, 32-30, 17-30, 30-23. James had 11 kills and 7 blocks, who after a tough tournament earned All-Tournament Honors. “We played a lot of top teams in this tournament. We were in a lot of games and we stayed with a lot of teams. We were kind of inconsistent and they would just pull away,” said Yeast.

“We had a lot of unforced errors. We served out of bounds, we hit out of bounds or into the net,” added Shimmin.

Prior to the tough tournament that took place on Sept. 9. and 10, the Scots hosted their own tournament on Saturday Sept. 3 in which the Scots took home first place. In the opener, the Scots played Coe College . They lost the first game, but came back to win the next three games to take the match. Wilkin tossed out 37 assists to her hot hitters Murray, James, and Yeast. Murray finished with 13 kills to go along with 8 digs. The women then played Principia in the following match and finished them off in three quick games. Murray added to her kill total putting down 9. The Scots then took on Concordia in the championship match. The women trailed early in the first two games, but once again came from behind to take the third and fourth game. In the final game, Concordia was within distance of the crown, but watched as the Scots came from behind to take the last three points to win the tournament. Yeast, James, and Murray once again were the hitters Wilkin looked to as they finished with 13, 15, and 20 kills. Wilkin brought home 54 assists in this game and is now tied for second in most assists in a match.

Murray earned herself and All Tournament selection after she put 42 kills to the hardwood in the three games. After the Monmouth Invite, Murray learned of another award she had received, Midwest Conference Player of the Week. She led the team with 52 kills, 3.47 kills per game, and .257 attack percentage.

The Scot's next match is this weekend Sept. 16 and 17 at the University of Chicago . The women play Benedictine University , University of Chicago , Aurora University , and Augsburg College .