Defense and teamwork will be team's focus

Improving the team’s defense is going to key if the Green River High School Lady Wolves volleyball team wants to be competitive this season.

“We have big goals. We have a very strong offense, but need some work on defense. We will spend a lot of time building a great defensive team,” head coach Rikki Shantz said.

The Lady Wolves have a lot of heavy hitters and weapons on the offensive side of the game.

They also have a great setter.

“We are not where we need to be defensively yet. We will get there,” Shantz said. “We have whole practices designated to work on defense.”

Shantz is hoping all of this practice will pay off when the team starts its conference play. She said the Lady Wolves not only need to work on defense, but they need to believe that they can win and work as a team.

Last year, the team struggled with their confidence and Shantz is hoping they can put that behind them. It’s a new year, and a new team.

If they believe they can win tough games, they’ll be able to do it. Green River has traditionally lost games against bigger schools that weren’t necessarily better than they were, they just performed better during that match up.

This year the team has seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshman on the team. The starting lineup is made up of three seniors, three juniors and two sophomores.

“We have worked really hard to create a culture that is conducive to growth and trust. My two senior captains are some of the best leaders I have seen on a high school team,” Shantz said. “They are dreaming big and that is contagious in our gym.”

The team wants to make those big dreams a reality and one of those is how they want to end their season. 

“We want to be at the top of our conference and state by the end of the year,” Shantz said. 

To do this, the team will need to work hard on functioning and playing as a team.

“In volleyball there is no other choice than to work as a team. Each girl has to do their job in order for the next girl to do their job,” Shantz said.

 

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