July 26, 2022 at 10:58 a.m.
Hodag volleyball gearing up for season
Team contact days concluded Thursday
Hodag volleyball gearing up for season
That didn't happen in 2020, as contact was extremely limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year contact during the summer was a bit disjointed as head coach Dan Wolter was not hired until July.
This summer, the team has had full allotment of open gyms, contact days and league nights in Tomahawk as the program looks to improve from a 4-30 overall record and win its first Great Northern Conference match since 2017.
Wolter said the continuity this summer has helped.
"I think the attendance in these days have shown that. We've had numbers up over 30 participating and coming into our contact days," he said. "I think that shows a little more organization, a little better communication than we had last year, which is always good."
The team used its five allotted coach contact days in two separate segments over the past couple of weeks. The team held three straight days of contact July 12-14 and held its final two contact days this past Wednesday and Thursday.
"We're really just trying to get the girls back into the gym and getting some ball touches and getting back into that comfort level of basic volleyball - pass, hit, set - and get some of the fresh faces coming into the program the opportunity to get a little extra work with our upper class and see what high school volleyball's about," Wolter said.
Wolter said the biggest point of emphasis, as it has been the past couple of years, is working on the passing game. That's an area where the Hodags have struggled in previous seasons.
"Just a head start on getting ball control back," he said. "Our serve-receive game, the past few years we've really struggled on serve-receive. I'm hoping that kind of getting the fundamentals down earlier in the year and during these contact days, we can kind of hit the ground running when we get into our full practice days."
Wolter said he hopes the extra work will give the Hodags a leg up when practice for the upcoming season gets underway Aug. 15.
"I think right now is kind of that point where it's like 'Oh my gosh, where only a couple of weeks away from season start, we better get going.' It's been kind of that I've been doing it all summer or I need to make up time," he said. "I think with having these contact days and the amount of girls showing up, I'm hoping that things are getting ramped up for them and they're getting excited to get back in the gym every day, play volleyball and start building as a team."
Part of the summer program has including taking part in a league on Monday nights in Tomahawk. Wolter said attendance has been solid for league nights and Rhinelander has gotten a look at a number of conference opponents as they try to snap a GNC losing streak that sits at 45 matches entering the 2022 season.
"Tomahawk league has been going pretty good. It's a good way for the girls to gauge where they're currently at," Wolter said. "Tomahawk, Antigo, Lakeland are all pretty solid teams and they're all in that league as well, but it's nice for those girls to get a look at other conference teams that we're going to be seeing a few times throughout the year."
The Hodags' first matches of the fall will take place Aug. 23 in a four-team invite in the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Rhinelander will open GNC play at Antigo Sept. 1.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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