There are several moving parts on the Lady Hubs varsity volleyball roster, but the girls are confident they will find their stride as they approach the 2017 season.
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ROCHELLE — There are several moving parts on the Lady Hubs varsity volleyball roster, but the girls are confident they will find their stride as they approach the 2017 season.
Rochelle faced a slew of tough opponents in 2016, piecing together an 8-24-2 record behind key players including outside hitter Ali VanVickle and libero Paige Myroth. But with VanVickle, Myroth and other graduates leaving the program, the Lady Hubs are looking to bounce back this fall behind a talented junior class that finished 22-9 at the sophomore level last year.
“I like being able to mix two age groups,” junior Emily Engelkes said. “We started off sticking to our own positions, but as we’ve gone through different drills we’ve been moving around to different places… We have to make sure we work well together as a team, and we had a lot of conditioning and camps over the summer. I think we’re going to be a really tight-knit group.”
Engelkes is one of many juniors who could earn a starting position in 2017. Emma Mehrings and Sarah Craven are two names to keep an eye on, while Grace Orlikowski, Abby Tilton, Mandi Lamb and Kelsey Thompson could find a spot in head coach John Pfaff’s rotation.
“As long as we work together, I think we can be a really strong and powerful team,” Mehrings said. “The juniors are really close so we know how to work well with each other, but it’s not hard to blend with the seniors because we’re open and able to go through the process.”
The Lady Hubs will face Dixon on the road Thursday, Aug. 24 in their first match of the season before battling in a tournament at Rockford East on Saturday, Aug. 26. Rochelle’s first home match is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 29 against the Plano Reapers.
While it may take some time for Rochelle’s returning varsity players to mesh with the team’s younger core, the Lady Hubs are staying optimistic as the start of the regular season approached. Rochelle bowed out of the postseason without a victory in 2016, and the girls are aiming to do more damage in 2017.
“We’re starting to blend really well,” senior Alexis Crawford said. “We have a lot of potential. Everybody has been really open-minded and we’ve been trying to blend so it really hasn’t been a painful process. I think we have a really good chance to win a lot this year.”
