The Big Lake volleyball team will look to build on last season’s section finals appearance with a strong group of returning players. The team will once again be coached by Alisha Brust along with assistants Kellie Olson, Morgan Penner, and Trevor Penner. 

The Hornets started competition last week with a tournament in Albany where the team went 1-3. Despite the results, Coach Brust was encouraged by her team’s performance. When asked about the upcoming season, she had this to say, “We played some great competition in Albany on Friday. Lost to Albany, Maple Lake, and Osakis, and beat Cathedral. It was a chance to try out some different rotations and see what works for us. The versatility this team has will help us compete in both the conference and the section this year! The team has set some reasonable goals and will work toward them one step at a time.”

The team returns nine seniors who will look to lead this team to another strong finish. That group includes Kaylee Stang, Jazlynn Dimpka, Riley Softka, Ava Jacobs, Izabelle Moudry, Alyssa Wondrow, Marissa Reed, Amara Obia, and Georgia Wandersee. 

Juniors for this year are Autumn Rondo, Kamrynn Tschritter, and Aubrey Trulock. And the sophomores are Ashley Fitzgibbons, Madison Reed, Taylor Kipka, and Aiyana Baker. 

The schedule really picks up in September, starting with a home match against Becker on the 3rd. The rest of the month looks like this 9/5 @ Delano, 9/10 @ North Branch, 9/12 vs. Princeton, 9/17 @ Hutchinson, 9/19 @ Zimmerman, 9/24 vs. St. Francis, 9/26 @ Monticello, and it ends with a tournament at Dassel-Cokato on 9/28. 

After that there are a handful of regular season games in October before playoffs begin. Those are 10/3 @ Orono, 10/8 vs. Chisago Lakes, 10/10 @ Cambridge-Isanti, 10/12 Tournament @ Bloomington Jefferson, and 10/15 vs. Robbinsdale Cooper. And playoffs begin on October 23rd.