Sandpoint volleyball

Two weeks into practice, the Sandpoint volleyball team is literally turning a new page on this season.

They’re turning the page just on last season as a whole. Journaling is part of the daily routine for both head coach Karen Alsager, who returned after a hiatus from coaching Sandpoint, and her team at the end of every practice.

“I’m a communicator. I feel like you can solve a lot of issues that way,” Alsager said. “I find out a lot in the journals. It’s just a time that they have a moment just with me where they can share what’s on their mind. I’m getting them to recognize who those people are — it’s not like a tattle session, I want complete positiveness out of this team with no drama. I am not interested in any of that at all. So anything I can nip before it happens and get on top of it, that’s important to me.”

Each player to write in a team journal at the end of practice. Meant to be a channel between every player and their coach, the journal entries highlight positive takeaways, feedback from drills, team superlatives and the pulse of the team as a unit.

Predictably, the journaling habit’s reception varies from person to person: Players like Gabby Hicks, a self-proclaimed “opinionated” person who wears her heart on her sleeve, stand by the journal, wheras senior Katie Korn, who describes herself as being “really closed with [her] emotions” have yet to warm up to it. Senior Jenny Slaveck appreciates the opportunity; so does Aly Lish, who keeps pushing the team to communicate better in her entries.

Nevertheless, the team agrees on one thing: They’re genuinely enjoying the season so far.

“I’ve noticed that this team all likes each other — and they will all tell you that,” Alsager said. They don’t hang out together, but they respect each other and like each other. Practices have been fun, they’re not yipping with each other. There’s a lot of positive, probably more than any other team I’ve coached in the past. That was the biggest surprise to me.”

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Korn said, agreeing with her coach and validating her statement. “I feel like it’s going to be a totally different vibe and a totally different experience than what we had last year. Everyone’s having more fun already. I think win or lose, we’re going to have a good season. Obviously, we want to win and that’s our main goal, but I also want to have fun. Last year was not fun. I feel like this year is going to be fun.”

In a way, Alsager and her team are meant for each other.

The Bulldogs, who are coming off of a 21-11 season — including an undefeated march towards the district title — are having to rebuild after losing a deep senior class. Yet the way things ended last season was enough to prompt rising senior Katie Korn to definitively say that season was “not fun.”

As for Alsager, the decorated Sandpoint volleyball head coach stepped away from coaching volleyball after the 2013 season, citing that the at the program had become too negative.

Both are seeking a fresh start this season. Although the 2019 season has already begun, both Alsager and the players are embarking on much more than 30 or so games in the fall sports season. In one way, shape or form, everyone in Sandpoint volleyball’s program is either rekindling the love for a sport they enjoy, or further enriching their appreciation of the game of volleyball. That success will come with time; for now, players like Hicks understand that the young team will be gunning towards success next season and beyond — anything that happens this year will be a “surprise.”

“I think it’s going to be a surprise season. Comparing ourselves to other teams, I don’t know what any team looks like this year because every team lost players that went on to play in college,” Hicks said. “But we have a pretty big junior class on varsity, so I’d like everyone to catch up to the pace of varsity so that at the end of this season and in next season, we’re able to be competitive on varsity.”

While almost half of Sandpoint’s varsity roster are current juniors, most will play their first varsity games this season. Setters Kaylee Banks and CeCe Deprez were on JV last season, which will be an adjustment as the team learns a faster, less-vertical offense. Losing a front line of all-league caliber six-footers will be difficult, yet Alsager’s style of play is less reliant on a few big hitters and is more team-oriented.

“I want to be able to utilize our full bench,” Lish, who came off the bench to make a plethora of important plays in the state tournament, said. “Everyone really brings separate parts to volleyball and everyone is good at different things. I think we’re really going to be able to use players off the bench a lot more than last year.”

There’s also no pressure. Sure, Alsager is expecting a big season out of Hicks, plus the seniors are over-the-moon with sophomore Tori Pelkey’s natural ability and big hits, yet they’re taking these positives in stride.

The program has had more than its fair share of success, but Alsager hasn’t put pressure on her team to win state for the first time since 2008.

“I haven’t talked to this team about winning state,” Alsager said. “That is so far away right now. We can make goals that we want to win, we want to improve and we want to bond, but we’re not looking that far down the line until we know what this team is going to be.”