After watching his Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team take part in their first tournament action of the season, veteran head coach Rick Wiedenhoeft admits he isn’t quite sure how good the squad will be this year.
The Muskies are coming off a third-place showing in Thunder Bay last weekend–finishing second in their pool but then being swept 25-15 and 25-18 by the Hillcrest Colts in the playoffs.
“We played like it was our first game[s] of the year,” said Wiedenhoeft. “Thunder Bay’s two strongest teams are St. Ignatius and Hillcrest [and] from what I’ve seen, they’re the cream of the crop.
“We hope to be able to compete against them but right now we’re not there,” he remarked.
Still, the black-and-gold fared pretty well in their first action of the season, finishing with a 3-1 record in pool play. They easily dispatched St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora), Fort William (Thunder Bay), and St. Pat’s (Thunder Bay) in two-straight games but were bounced in two straight by St. Ignatius.
Wiedenhoeft, who said he had a chance to give everyone equal court time on the weekend, said their passing definitely needs to improve if they hope to beat Thunder Bay’s top two teams.
“In the semi-final game, it just fell apart,” he noted.
Veteran Laureen Cousineau is returning at setter to make plays, along with Kelly Crawford and Dusty Yeo at the power position and Sarah Vanderplaats from the weak side.
But the team’s biggest strength probably will be in the middle with Siobhan Devlin (at 6’2”) and Marsha Walsh.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Wiedenhoeft of this season’s prognosis.