BonnerSprings.com

When Heather Campbell huddled with her team after its season-ending loss to Topeka Seaman in the first round of the Class 5A substate tournament last fall, she sent her squad a clear message: 2010 will be much different.

Campbell’s first season as the Bonner Springs High School volleyball coach was a mixture of progress, frustration and lessons learned as the squad posted a 9-27 record.

Her second season at the helm began Monday, and Campbell already saw signs that the coming season will, in fact, be much better.

“We had 40 girls there at tryouts tonight,” Campbell said Monday evening, “and really there are 14 or 15 that could maybe make varsity and are trying for those spots.”

Cuts will take place this afternoon, and even then the official varsity roster might not be solidified. Campbell said she could see players move between the junior varsity and varsity rosters as competition for spots continues.

The battle for varsity spots isn’t because of a lack of talent, either. Campbell said her players showed increased dedication in the offseason. More girls made regular appearances in the weight room to get stronger and improve their jumping ability. Record numbers also participated in the spring and summer leagues at Okun Fieldhouse in Shawnee. In fact, Bonner Springs teams won league championships in both seasons.

“We had 24 girls this summer playing in the league,” Campbell said. “Four years ago we were only able to field one team. The last two years we had two teams. This year there were three teams (from Bonner Springs) in the Okun summer league. They’re putting in the effort, and you can tell.”

Campbell said she hopes the successes in the spring and summer leagues will carry into the school season this fall. The Braves struggled with their confidence last year, and Campbell believes that cost them some matches.

Now the players are accustomed to winning, and Campbell hopes that attitude will help the Braves have a breakthrough season.

“Our confidence (was a problem last year),” Campbell said. “But they started to see it last year … you could start to tell that they believed ‘we can really do this’ a couple of times.

“One moment from last year really stood out. We were at the Louisburg Tournament and we were about to play Fort Scott. Fort Scott had just beaten Basehor, and we turned around and beat Fort Scott. Suddenly we were like, ‘OK, we can beat Basehor, guys.’ I think if we can get past that and not hold ourselves back and just believe we can do it, we definitely could surprise a couple teams this year.”

Bonner Springs should boast a more well-rounded lineup this season. Last year’s lone senior, Emily Herre, was a quality passer, setter and hitter, but nobody else could match her versatility. The 2009 squad rarely played above the net, but this year’s team has numerous players capable of hitting the ball hard. In addition, Campbell said the Braves’ service game should be more of a weapon. A few players are even developing jump serves.

Campbell is eager to wrap up tryouts, begin solidifying rosters and start playing matches to find out what her team is made of.

“We are going to talk about goals on Friday, and I’ll be interested to see the girls’ goals,” she said. “I would love to be able to say we came away and were .500 this year. Another goal on the list I think will be to beat Basehor. I can’t remember the last time in volleyball we were able to beat them.”

The Braves will conduct their team scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, at the Bonner Springs District P.E. Center. Then they will open the regular season at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31, against Baldwin, Basehor-Linwood and Eudora at Baldwin.

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