By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Another dominating year for the Big Foot girls volleyball team in the Rock Valley Conference South Division led to even more success in the post-season.
Big Foot landed six girls on All-RVC South teams, including the top honor, as junior outside hitter Kennedy Hehr was named Player of the Year.
The honor for Kennedy definitely was a deserving one, Big Foot coach Caitlin Dowden said.
“She had an outstanding year and really was a force to be reckoned with no matter where she was on the court,” Dowden said. “She led our team both offensively and defensively.
“Defensively, she picked up a ton of balls (that) opposing hitters thought would fall. Offensively, she put down a number of kills and made it look easy. She is an all-around player.”
For the year, Kennedy Hehr, who also was an honorable mention, all-state selection, led the Chiefs with 358 kills and digs (473) and was second in aces (60).
And it certainly hasn’t been an easy road for Hehr, who already has overcome injuries from a serious car accident and a knee injury in just the last couple years.
But she continues to fight every day, her coach said, and there’s even more success ahead, Dowden said.
“We are beyond pleased to have her on the team,” she said. “She is a very valuable girls who is a difference maker on the team.
“She hasn’t even come to her ceiling. I can’t wait to see how high she reaches her senior season.”
Kennedy Hehr was joined on the first team by junior outside hitter Gloria Esarco and freshman setter Kampbell Hehr.
Esarco finished in kills behind Hehr with 310. She also recorded 57 aces, 24 total blocks, 382 digs.
“Gloria had another remarkable year as well,” Dowden said. “This year, she took on more of a leadership role and really took to her six rotations on the court.
“Between her and Kennedy constantly being on the court, we were quite confident in our outside hitters and left back defenders. Gloria was a very smart outside hitter who many teams struggled with.”
Kampbell Hehr had a team-high 65 aces and led the Chiefs with 789 assists and added 286 digs in her first high school campaign.
The younger Hehr took over from the graduated Ally Mazur, and the transition went smoothly, Dowden said.
“Kampbell had to step up and fill huge shoes,” she said. “Losing our setter from last year (in Mazur) was a big spot to be in. She made the transition very well and very smoothly. She did a phenomenal job running our offense.”
Dowden added there didn’t seem to be too much stress – other than the normal – between the two Hehr siblings on the court.
“The two sisters got along great and really connected well between hitter-setter and setter-passer,” Dowden said.
“At times, they were probably a little tougher on each other than they were (to) others, but that is to be expected with sisters.
Trio also honored
Freshman libero Sophie Foster was named to the second team, while honorable mention picks were seniors Kaiti Kelley and Payton Courier.
Foster finished with 35 aces and was third on the team n digs with 349, as she made the move to libero for the Chiefs.
“When I told her she was going to be the libero I think she was a little shocked,” Dowden said. “Although you would never have known with how smooth her play was. She grew greatly over the year and really stepped up in huge situations.”
The Chiefs finished 2015 at 27-10-3 overall and were 10-0 in the RVC. Big Foot captured its seventh straight South Division title and its nine in the past 10 years.
Big Foot advanced to the Division 2 regional semifinal, where it fell to eventual state runner-up East Troy.
Now the work begins for next year, Dowden said.
“Our future is extremely bright, and I cannot wait,” she said. “We have a lot of potential. It just depends how much the girls want to work in the off-season to make sure we have great success next year.”
