2008 Volleyball Season Preview
Friday, August 01, 2008

Melissa Young

Mankato, Minn.—Coming off a 16-16 season, Head Coach Sue Wilde’s Vikings will continue to improve as they search for a first place finish this season in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). The Vikings came up just short last season taking home a second place finish at the UMAC Tournament.

The team graduated two of their high scorers, setter Joelle Shouts and middle hitter Leslie Bremer, but hopes the leadership of returning seniors mixed with fresh talent from the class of 2012 will make their team a formidable foe.

Returning to lead the Vikings in their 2008 campaign will be seniors, Eva Voss (Mankato, Minn./ Minnesota Valley Lutheran), a middle hitter and first team All-conference player in 2007, Emma Orth (Sun Prairie, Wis./Luther Preparatory), an outside hitter, and defensive specialist Laura Mielke (New Germany, Minn./Mayer Lutheran). Junior Laura Parochka (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer), who earned an honorable mention All-Conference award in 2007, will return as libero.

Freshmen, Klea Swenson (Nicollet, Minn./Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial) will sport the red and white this year as a Viking. At 6-0, Swenson will bring some much needed height to the Bethany line-up. “We will not have a big line-up this year,” said coach Wilde “but that means that our team will have to use their smaller size to be quicker than our opponents.” Joining Swenson will be area conference players, Vanessa Harkins (Le Center, Minn./Le Center), Brittney Schreader (Janesville, Minn. Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton), and Dani Wiederhoeft (Truman, Minn./Truman).

Wilde and her team know this year will be a rebuilding year but are ready to come together and show their opponents some tough competition. “We plan to make our opponents have to work at their shots as we will be learning to play very aggressively,” said Wilde of the 2008 season.

The Vikings kick off their season with a trip to Jacksonville, Ill. over the weekend of August 30 and 31, 2008, where they will participate in a tournament hosted by Illinois College. Opponents will include: Iowa Wesleyan, Illinois College, Rose Hulman and Eureka.