Volleyball: Hazen seniors help to build team for future

It’s one thing for players to take losses in stride because better times are ahead. It’s another thing for the small group of seniors on the Hazen volleyball team to take the losses now, because they won’t be around to see the reward.

“Right now it’s a lot more about improvement than wins and losses,” said Hazen volleyball coach Kristine Kalkwarf. “The seniors have done a good job of not getting down.”

Kat Jucker, Alena Ross and Haley Zeylmaker have simply rolled with the punches as Hazen’s lone seniors and kept positive. The Hazen team had yet to pick up a win and the Highlanders have four sophomores and six freshmen on the roster, so inexperience is an issue.

“It’s sad knowing I can’t be here when they’re really good,” Jucker said. “But I’m glad for them because I care about them.”

Only one player on the roster has club experience (Ross), so Kalkwarf and her staff have to teach most the players how to play starting with the basics. While it’s harder to coach this way, Kalkwarf said it will be much rewarding to see her hard work pay off as the girls develop through the years in her system.

Kalkwarf knew the team would be young this season and she began preparing for it last year, in her first season as Hazen’s coach.

“I started pulling the girls (the three seniors this season) aside and telling them to be prepared for this,” Kalkwarf said. “They knew they’d be the leaders of a young team this season a long time ago.”

Now that Kalkwarf has returned for her second season, the players are finally starting to see some consistency. The seniors had three coaches in three seasons before this one. The team is steadily improving as the players understand their roles and the team’s system and commit more to volleyball.

“My goal this year was to change the culture,” Kalkwarf said. “Increase dedication, desire, commitment and get kids excited about volleyball.”

Much of the improvement is because of the example the seniors are laying down for the younger players.

“I just try to get everyone comfortable playing in the game,” Ross said. “They’re starting to play together and trust the older members of the team. We have to be friendly and leaders for everyone on the team.”

The next challenge is to get more players to play club volleyball outside of the high school season. Kalkwarf said one season of club play is equivalent to two years of varsity, so that would be one way to jumpstart Hazen into contention.

“I like where we are now,” Kalkwarf said. “But it’d be lovely to have five or six go on to play club.”

There is hope for a late-season run. Because of the new structure of the Seamount League, teams will play in a tournament to see who advances to sub-districts, instead of just going off of record. That means if the Highlanders can improve enough by the end of the year, the early losses won’t really matter and they still have a chance to make the playoffs.

“It’s a better gauge of who has improved,” Kalkwarf said. The Seamount’s eighth and ninth place teams will compete in play-in match and the winner will join the league’s other seven squads in a double-elimination tournament. The top five teams out of the tournament will move on to sub-districts.

“I think that’s a good goal for our team this year,” Kalkward said. “I’m just excited because I can see the team’s getting better and better with every match we play.”

Adam McFadden can be reached at amcfadden@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5054.

Contact Renton Reporter Sports Reporter Adam McFadden at amcfadden@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5054.

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