Lady Jays return experienced starters for 2008 campaign

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Gehlen's Lexi Wiltgen passes the ball to setter Danielle Gunter during preseason practice last week. [Click to enlarge]

With three returning starters and a handful more returning letter winners, the Gehlen Catholic Lady Jays are poised to make their mark in Class 1A and the War Eagle Conference.

Coming off a 17-18 season last year, Coach Mike Meyer says that his squad's record is not indicative of their capabilities and talent.

"The thing you have to remember about our record is that 75 percent of our matches were against 2A, 3A and 4A teams," Meyer said. "We lost I believe only once to a 1A team and that was at the end of the year in the post-season tournament."

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) During a serving drill, seniors Danielle Gunter and Kayla Hatting run across the gym floor. Both returning starters from last year's squad, Gunter and Hatting will be some of the leaders for the Lady Jays this season. [Click to enlarge]

"Our conference has a lot of big schools, plus we play in the Sioux City West and Unity Christian tournaments, which both have big schools. So, our record is going to be a little bit misleading. Very few 1A schools play the number of big schools we do."

Despite their small size, Meyer added that Gehlen is still competitive within the War Eagle Conference. "We're able to compete in the conference anyways," he said. "We're always in the top few anyways, and a lot of that is because of the level of competition we see."

The Lady Jays posted a 4-5 record in the WEC last season, falling right in the middle of league standings. Unity Christian finished at the top with a perfect 9-0 record in the WEC, with Sergeant Bluff-Luton a game behind at 8-1. Hinton (7-2) and West Sioux (6-3) also finished above Gehlen, while Akron-Westfield matched the Lady Jays' 4-5 record. Spalding Catholic, South O'Brien, Remsen St. Mary's and Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn finished in the bottom half of the league.

Leading the Lady Jays this fall will be a trio of returning starters.

Senior Kayla Hatting and junior Lexi Wiltgen return as left side hitters while Danielle Gunter returns in the setting role.

Hatting and Wiltgen were both strong leaders at the net last season. Hatting was second for the Lady Jays in kills with 198 and she boasted a kill efficiency of 24.5 while Wiltgen totaled 89 kills with a 16.8 kill efficiency. Wiltgen was third on the squad with 29 blocks and Hatting contributed 24 blocks to the effort. Defensively, Hatting recorded 205 digs and Wiltgen added 68.

For their efforts last season, Hatting was named to the second team all-conference and Wiltgen received honorable mention.

"I think we're going to be really solid on the left side," Meyer said. "Kayla and Lexi do just a really great job swinging at the ball and they both block fairly well."

In the setting position, Gunter was second last season to former senior Megan Sauer in the assists category. Sauer topped off at 300 but Gunter was right behind her with 244. Wiltgen proved her versatility by adding 56 assists, the third highest on the squad.

Gunter also played a pivotal role on defense, picking up 94 digs on the season.

Brittany Schlichte was a letter winner last season, coming off the bench to play middle, where she will be featured in a more prominent role this season.

Joining Schlichte in the middle hitter position will be junior Rachel Tilly, a transfer from South O'Brien. Tilly started as a middle hitter for the Wolverines in her sophomore campaign, and will do the same for the Lady Jays this season.

On the right side, Gehlen will feature Jess Timmins in the hitting spot. Meyer will likely feature most of these hitters in back row positions on the same side as well.

With the hitters this season, Meyer recognizes the height of these girls as a strong advantage for his squad.

"We have decent size," Meyer said. "With Tilly transferring in, that is going to help in [the height] department. She is a pretty solid blocker."

In the libero position, Meyer will turn to Kayla Holtgrewe to step up.

A front row option that remains on the table for the Lady Jays is featuring a second setter for the front row rotation. "I haven't decided if I will use one or two setters," Meyer said. "But I might run someone in the front row with some height."

A couple options for that potential spot are senior Erin Hoffman and freshman Amber Timmins. Neither have previous varsity experience, but Meyer recognizes the potential they have for that specific position. However, he said the position is just an idea he is toying with for now. "I might not even know what I'm going to do until we start playing games."

In addition to these starters, Meyer will look to his bench for additional depth. Senior Amanda Roder will be a backup hitter for the squad while fellow senior Melissa Kellen could fill in as a back row specialist or a right side hitter.

A few more faces to watch for as the season begins include junior Sarah Jentz, sophomores Linden Sitzmann and Becca Swalve, and freshman Steph Rohe.

A key strength that Meyer recognizes for his squad this season is serving. "I think we'll be a pretty tough serving team," he said.

The Lady Jays return Wiltgen, who had the best serving percentage (89.0) for Gehlen last fall. Hatting was not far behind with an 85.1 percentage. Hatting and Wiltgen both contributed a significant number of aces to the serving side of the game; Hatting had 38 while Wiltgen had 27.

In addition to height at the net and strong serving, Meyer hopes to add a couple new aspects to the squad this season. "If we get defense and ball control, I think we'll have a good year."

The Lady Jays kick off their 2008 campaign hosting Sergeant Bluff-Luton in a WEC match-up. "You never know if you're going to jump into that stratosphere of those top teams," Meyer said of the opening competition with the Warriors. "But we can be right in that next group and maybe lead that group."