Urbandale Volleyball Team: Young but Ambitious

Most high school volleyball teams with a 17-3 record would feel pretty good about their season.

Not junior setter Linnea Stephens. 

“We haven’t played a game when all of us are on. We need to be more consistent,” Stephens said. "...You can’t make errors. You have to always be on your game.”

The J-Hawks are currently ranked in the top 10 by most publications around the state. The Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union ranks them fourth in 4A. The team has gone to the state tournament in two of the last three seasons.

Goal: Win State

Getting to state this year is definitely a goal for the team, but Stephens said it's not enough.

“We set the goal to make it,” Stephens said. “But we want to win. We have to start fast though. We haven’t started well in matches this year and the starts are big factors at state. We have to get going earlier because good teams won’t let us back in the match.”

Urbandale volleyball coach Liz Baethke said Stephens is a leader on the team with lots of heart and energy.  “I need a leader like her at all times."

Still Baethke says the team is young, which may make it harder to achieve Stephens' goal of winning state.

“We have our young-kid moments,” said Baethke, whose team started 9-0. “We’ve also won matches when we haven’t played well. But the start is exciting for us. We just want to peak at the right time.”

“I thought we had a lot of work to do in the scrimmages, but then we played in the Dallas Center-Grimes Tournament and went 4-0. We played lights out,” she said.

“We just need to keep working hard and keep working together and good things will happen for us again,” said hitter Bri Smith, who is the only senior starter. “We have worked hard and it would be nice to be rewarded with another state berth.”

Young Team

So far this season, Stephens and the rest of the J-Hawks have done very well. Stephens has contributed 443 assists, which ranks third in Class 4A.

Sophomores Emilee Erichsen and Kyla Inderski are both among the top eight in 4A in kills with 197 and 168, respectively. Inderski also is in the top 10 in digs with 229. Sophomore Celie Kohls has a team-high 36 blocks.

Urbandale went 35-9 last season under Baethke but lost three very good starters off that team.

“I would never have imagined this kind of year would have been possible after losing three seniors last year,” said Smith, who has 163 digs this season. “The program is in good shape though. The young kids this year will have much more experience next year.”

Strengths and Weaknesses

Baethke said Urbandale’s team strengths include firepower and hitting. She identified consistency and better blocking as things that need to be worked on before the end of the season.

The program made a subtle change this offseason, switching from a 6-2 system that involves two setters to a 5-1 that has one primary setter.

“We wanted more consistency on the sets,” Baethke said. “It flows much better with one person. We need Linnea on the court, too.”

While the J-Hawks have another great shot at the state tournament this year, Baethke knows the future may be even brighter in 2012 and 2013.

“The expectation of this program is to get to the state tournament, but we are not ready to be that team yet because of the youth,” Baethke said. “But the potential to be better than those two previous state teams is there because I’ll have these younger kids for the next one to two years.”