By Dan Truttschel
Sports correspondent
The Big Foot girls volleyball team has piled up one successful season after another in the Rock Valley Conference’s South Division in recent years.
And with four athletes back in 2017 who received All-RVC honors a year ago, there’s no reason to doubt that success will continue.
But it will be different.
This season, the RVC is combining its two divisions into one conference, which adds a number of successful programs from the North Division into the mix.
The goals haven’t changed, however, according to fourth-year head coach Caitlin Dowden.
“Our goal in conference is to aim for the top,” she said. “We want to continue that stretch that we have going. We know that this will require a lot of hard work, dedication and ‘want.’”
Through the first couple weeks of practice, a scrimmage and a season-opening tournament last weekend in Janesville, Dowden has seen plenty of all that.
And that certainly is an encouraging way to start things.
“The girls are working hard each day to continue to build on the success that the program has had,” she said. “These girls want that previous success to continue, and of course, build from there. Each year, we look to get better than the previous year, and this year we are looking to do just that.”
A foursome of leaders
Dowden said she will lean on senior Payton Courier and juniors Abby Peterson, Kampbell Hehr and Sophia Foster to lead the 2017 squad.
Hehr and Foster were All-RVC first-team picks a year ago, while Courier and Peterson received second-team recognition.
In 2016, Hehr was among the leaders in a number of statistical categories, as she piled up 142 kills, 65 aces, 37 blocks, 319 digs and 816 assists. Foster recorded 32 aces and 332 digs, while Courier finished with 151 kills, 38 blocks and 24 digs. Peterson had 99 kills, 35 aces and 144 digs.
“All four girls have seen significant varsity time, and I expect them to push our team, especially our younger athletes who have not had that experience yet, to get better each and every day,” Dowden said. “I want the team to be able to turn to these four girls in times of trouble.”
Joining those four on the varsity roster are seniors Lauren Paulsen, Yesenia Gonzalez, Riley Davis and Makenzie Trosclair; juniors Mikayla
Hibl and Lynda Santiago; sophomores Reagan Courier and Lindsay Paulsen; and freshmen Kelly Kline and Greer Lettenberger.
New challenges
With the one big conference comes new challenges, including an East Troy squad that has dominated the North in recent years as well. Dowden said others to watch from the North are McFarland and Edgerton, along with Brodhead in the South.
Before the Chiefs can worry about who they may have to battle to bring home a conference title, however, they need to just keep focusing on what they can fix every day in practice, Dowden said.
Doing the little things right will lead to bigger things down the road.
“We have to look one day at a time,” she said. “We can’t look ahead or past anyone. Each day, we have to get better and continue to push our game of volleyball. We need to dictate what happens in a match, not our opponents.”
Dowden will be assisted this season by Emily Nolen, Chad Roehl and Alison Krick.
Starting off
Big Foot opened its season at the annual Cougar-Viking Classic in Janesville, and emerged with a 7-4 overall record.
The Chiefs posted victories over Delavan-Darien (25-15, 25-16), Sauk Prairie (25-19, 25-9), Baraboo (25-18, 25-12), Parker (25-23, 25-19), Madison Memorial (25-19, 25-16), Green Bay Notre Dame (25-17, 25-23) and Edgerton (25-20, 25-22).
Big Foot fell twice to Brodhead (26-24, 21-25, 14-16 and 14-25, 18-25), to Edgerton (20-25, 22-25) and to Craig (14-25, 16-25).
The Chiefs competed Aug. 29 at a triangular at McFarland and travel to Elkhorn to face the Elks and Williams Bay in a nonconference triangular Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 p.m.
