Health & Fitness
2012 Alverno College Volleyball Season Preview
The Alverno College volleyball team won just four matches last season, but it was a 300-percent increase from the prior two-seasons combined.
The Alverno College volleyball team won just four matches last season, but it was a 300-percent increase from the prior two-seasons combined. Alverno head coach Paul Lawson enters his third season at the helm and looks to build on the program's most victories since 2007.
"I'm expecting a pretty big pickup from where we left off last year," commented Lawson. "The team played really well together, and I hope to see them continue."
Last year's squad set single-season school records with 1,690 digs and 131 block assists. Reagan Owen (Salina, Kan./Central) led the improved Inferno defense with a team-best 480 digs, and was named second team All-Northern Athletics Conference at the libero position. Her 4.44 digs-per-set average was third best in the league.
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Owen is the team's lone senior and is one of five returners. Other returners include junior Chelsea Gulbronson (Milwaukee/Pius XI), and sophomores Cali Trepp (Iron Mountain, Mich./Niagara), Mariah Arterberry (Brawley, Calif./Brawley Union) and Marquita Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Sheffield).
Trepp is the top returning hitter who connected for 127 kills last season (1.38/set) at a .111 clip. Gulbronson tallied a team-high 35 total blocks last season, including a team-best eight solo, while Arterberry was right behind her with 30 total and five solo.
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Seven newcomers join the team that include opposite-side hitters Faith Hart (Woodland, Wis./Hartford Union) and Daryl Sigh (Milwaukee/Whitefish Bay), while outside and middles include Annie Friedbacher (Greenfield, Wis.), Devon Gorman (Mosinee, Wis.), Kristi Kanning (Avery, Idaho/St. Maries), Michelle Lingle (Watertown, Wis./Maranatha Academy) and Emma Ortner (Tigerton, Wis.).
Most of the rookies come from successful high school programs and look to extend their success at the college level.
Ortner was a four-time all-conference player at regional runner-up Tigerton High School, including the Central Wisconsin Conference-10 Player of the Year in both 2010 and 2011 after she led the Tigers to back-to-back conference titles.
Kanning comes from a state championship team at St. Maries High School, where the Lumberjacks won the 3A title her junior season and finished fifth at state in 2011.
Lingle's high school team won the Indian Trails Conference title last year and the WACS state title her junior season at Maranatha Academy.
"The returners and freshmen have really become close-knit in a short period of time this preseason," Lawson said.
The Inferno (4-28, 0-12 NAC) began the 2011 season with a victory -- just the second time in the program's history -- and opens the 2012 season against Northland College at the Pacific Coast Classic in California on Aug. 31. Alverno defeated Northland, 3-2, opening weekend last season.
After another tournament the following weekend in Chicago, the Inferno opens conference play against Benedictine University on Sept. 11, for the home opener in Reiman Gymnasium. Live video and stats will be available for all Inferno home matches via athletics.alverno.edu.
