MONROE — It’s been a tough rebuild for the Cheesemakers on the volleyball court, with the last winning regular season coming more than two decades ago. In the past two seasons, the team has gotten younger and struggled as much as ever, and currently have just one win in the 2022 campaign.
That doesn’t mean there is not optimism moving forward.
“The biggest thing is they are right where we want them to be,” said Cassie Wittmann, Monroe’s head coach, after her team’s 25-13, 25-12, 25-11 loss to Oregon on Sept. 29. “We’ve seen so much improvement in them, especially over the past week and a half to two weeks. They are applying the things they are learning in practice and they are seeing the success when they execute. What more can we ask for?”
The Cheesemakers have just five seniors on the varsity roster, along with six juniors and five sophomores. The girls are still figuring out how to play as a team.
“I think the thing a lot of people forget is that we are a very young team. We don’t have much varsity experience coming back from last year. To see the strides these guys have made from August to now, makes me really excited for next year — but also really sad for these seniors, because they don’t get to be a part of the that continuing change,” Wittman said. “But I hope this shows that something is working, something is changing; and these girls are putting in the effort and the hustle and everything they need to do.”
Early on against Oregon, nerves were Monroe’s nemesis, especially with serve receive. The Panthers had 10 aces in the frame, but just four in the second set and only three in the third.
“The biggest thing we’ve talked about is confidence. We need to have the mindset that if we shank a serve or give up an ace, you’re going to want that ball again. I think in that second set they saw that and realized ‘I can do this,’” Wittman said.
While the team wins aren’t all there, the Cheesemakers have seen a new person step up each night. Against Oregon, that was senior Maggie Hawkinson. Hawkinson finished the night with six timely kills.
“I hope it just shows that we don’t have to rely on one person. If someone is having an off night, someone else can step up,” Wittman said. “At the beginning of the season, we weren’t sure where Maggie was going to be — if it was going to be middle or outside. She started in the middle and we weren’t getting the kills we wanted to, so we moved her outside, and you can see what happened — she’s kind of blossomed and bloomed from there. That’s our hope with a lot of these young kids, too, trying to find their niche — and maybe that’s in a whole different position.”
The Cheesemakers will host Mount Horeb on Oct. 6, then will play at Mount Horeb’s tournament two days later.
