Elk Mound netters hope to return to the top

ELK MOUND — After a second place finish in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference last year, the Elk Mound volleyball team will look for several seniors with varsity experience to lead them, hopefully to a conference championship this year. The team would also like to advance through the regional tournament after losing in the finals the past two seasons.

Head coach Donna Weix begins her 25th year as the varsity coach and 27th overall with Elk Mound and knows replacing two First Team All Dunn -St. Croix Conference players Katie Johnson and Anna Sessions, along with Mattie Pitts, Kyra Anderson, Carissa Wieser and Mckenna Borofka, all who graduated, will be a tough task. But returning are seniors Morgan Polden (Second team AC as a junior), Elly Friberg (Honorable Mention AC as a junior), Dayna Kotecki, Katie Benson, Moriah Mauer, Lizzie Schreiber,  Rachel Caron, Leia Kufahl, and Katie Gerber, most of whom saw some varsity minutes last year. Also expected to help out are juniors Serena Wieser and Hannah Flatness, making the varsity a team dominated with upper classmen.

“Our goal every year is to challenge for a conference championship,” Weix said. “With the group of experienced players we have back, it is certainly an attainable goal. It will take some time to get players in the right spot and working together but playing in the Menomonie Sprawl this weekend should give us the opportunity to play a lot of girls and see what we can do against very good competition. If we play the way we are capable of, we should have  a successful season,” she added.

Weix expects Colfax to be a conference contender again this year as well as Spring Valley. With St. Croix Central and Boyceville both having new coaches, she is not sure what to expect from them. With 43 girls out for volleyball this year, she is assisted by Jenny Garnett, Darla Diermeier, Wende Kasakaitas and Samantha Weix. After the two day Menomonie Sprawl Aug. 29-30, the Mounders will travel to Cadott Sept. 2.