The Britton-Hecla volleyball team put together a winning campaign a year ago and Coach Jenna Peters thinks her squad can continue to build that momentum heading into the 2025 fall campaign.
The Lady Braves finished last season with a 14-12 mark, six wins better than their 8-16 record of the previous season. Seven seniors graduated from that squad but seven letterwinners and six starters return, giving the local netters plenty of reasons for optimism.
“I’m happy with the energy that the girls have and the want,” said Peters. “They want to be here, love the sport of volleyball, and want to win. They’vs been working hard and giving 100% in practice, and that’s a big deal.”
Britton-Hecla takes on Leola-Frederick in Frederick for its season opener on Tuesday. Junior high matches start at 4 p.m., JV at 6:30 p.m., and the varsity at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Braves did come out on top against the Titans in a Matchbox League match this summer.
Named as potential starters for that opening match are seniors Abby Lee and Karlie Zuehlke at the middle spots, sophomore Jaelee Grupe at setter and right side, senior Ava Teveldal at libero, juniors Daynika Zuehlke and Maddi Micko at the outside spots, and junior Brynlee Schmieg as a defensive specialist. Peters said a couple of others girls will see some times serving or filling in depending on team needs.
Peters said the team’s focus in the opener is defense.
“We’re really focusing on defense and would like to see us have a strong serve receive against Leola-Frederick. Our goal is to use our defense to get the other team out of system. L-F has a couple of hitters and I would like to see our girls get up and block them.”
The Lady Braves’ coach also thinks her team has some weapons offensively.
“I think we have a really solid group of girls at the net that are good hitters and blockers. One think I would like to see is our team not just scoring on hard hits but being able to read the court good enough to know where to put the ball. Another part of our game that I think will be a strength is our serving. We’ve been working on harder serves to do a better job of getting teams out of system. Last year we had a 10% ace percentage and we want to up that this year.”
Peters is hoping her squad can build on last year’s success.
“Last year we had some goals at the beginning of the season and met all of those goals,” concluded Peters. “I think that gives us a lot of confidence this year and is a huge boost for us. Having a winning season is always our first goal, and it would be fun to be the first team from B-H to get a banner on the wall and make it to the SoDak 16.”
Temperature: 71°F Town: Britton, SD
Pressure: 1022 hPa
Wind: 5 mph
