Grizzly volleyball team takes aim

A roster full of experienced upper classmen would be a welcome commodity for any coach. But according to Montana Grizzly volleyball coach Jerry Wagner, it is by no means a necessity.
“Every team can be special, no matter if they are old and experienced or young and fresh,” Wagner said. “We worked so hard in the off season, I feel like our girls know what to expect and I think we can achieve any goal we set.”

Although the 2008 version of the Grizzlies will only feature two seniors, Wagner has five returning starters, including the 2007 Big Sky Conference Outstanding Freshman, Jaimie Thibeault.
The 6-foot-2 Thibeault, who earned second team All-Big Sky honors, started all 26 matches at middle blocker a year ago, leading the team with 1.37 blocks per game. 
“Her enthusiasm is a pleasure to see and so is her love of the game,” said Wagner, who’s starting his third year at the helm.
Wagner will also rely heavily on his two seniors, Jade Roskam and Lauren Gustafson, as well as returning starters Taryn Wright, a junior, and sophomore Amy Roberts.  All four started every conference contest last season. Of the five returning starters from last season’s team that finished seventh in the Big Sky (6-10 in conference, 10-16 overall), all but Gustafson made at least 20 starts. 
“All five of (the starters) returned not only one year older, but one year better,” Wagner said.
The Grizzlies will be led by 5-foot-10 team captain Roskam. Roskam started 75 games over the past three seasons at outside hitter and was second on the team in kills last year with 2.75 per game.
Roskam is the team’s unquestioned vocal leader, but she also sets an example in the classroom. She was named Academic All-Big Sky each of the past three seasons and also earned UM’s prestigious President’s Award for academic excellence as the female student-athlete with the highest GPA for the 2007-08 school year.
“Jade exemplifies everything a coach wants in a captain and she lives every aspect of her life that way,” said Wagner, who will ask Roskam to play libero in addition to outside hitter.
Wagner said he also expects Gustafson be a key to Grizzly success. 
“Lauren needs to be an all-conference presence in practice and in competition, just as she was last season, in order for us to have success,” Wagner said.
Gustafson, a 6-foot-2 Billings native who transferred from Louisiana Tech in 2006, averaged 2.16 kills and .78 blocks per game on her way to honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.
“Jade is our captain so she is the vocal leader on the team,” Gustafson said. “I just try to lead more by example by trying to be someone with a straight head on and off the court.”
After sharing time her first season, Wright took over as full-time setter in 2007 and finished second in conference in assists with 1,098, while earning honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.  Wagner said he expects the junior to fill a similar role as the team engine, but said she is by no means one-dimensional.
“(Wright) will be expected to run the team and is critical to our success, but she is more than just a setter,” Wagner said. “She is the most dominant server in the league, bar none.”
The team’s only other upper classman is junior outside hitter Whitney Hobbs. Hobbs, a transfer from Auburn before last season, started seven games as a first year sophomore.  Wagner said she has the best off-season of all his players.
Eureka native Amy Roberts returns on the outside after a stellar freshman campaign that saw her start all but six matches. The 5-foot-10 Hobbs led the team in kills 299 (3.15/g) and also added 196 digs (2.06/g).  She and Roskam tied for the team lead with 16 double-figure kill matches.
There will be seven new faces in the Montana program all told, with the addition of two assistant coaches, a transfer and four highly touted freshmen. 
Brittney Brown transferred from St. Edward’s College in San Antonio, Texas. The sophomore will play libero, where she averaged a team-high 4 digs per game for the Hilltoppers.
Kandice Kelly, a part-time assistant last season, will enter her first year as a full-time assistant this season. She played for four seasons at Montana State prior to coming to Montana.
The other new assistant is Oregon State alum Gina Schmidt. Schmidt will coach in the collegiate ranks for the first time this season after concluding a six-year playing career in Europe. Schmidt was named the 2002 NCAA Woman of the Year in the state of Oregon.
“(Kelly and Schmidt) both played the game at a high level and they both know how hard it is to win,” Wagner said. “The players will benefit because both assistants hold them accountable and the players trust them.”
Montana’s four new freshmen join the program with impressive resumes. Setter Karyn Mockel and middle blocker Emma Olgard, the team’s tallest member at 6-foot-3, were teammates at Mead High School in Spokane, Wash. Over the last three seasons their team won 101 of the 104 matches they played and captured three straight Washington Class 4A state titles. Mockel earned Class 4A Player of the Year honors. 
Brittany Quick will “help solidify a strong core of middles” Wagner said. The 6-foot-one middle blocker hails from Richland, Wash. She led Hanford High to its first state championship in 2007 while earning 3A Player of the Year honors. She was also named Washington’s Gatorade Girls’ Volleyball Player of the Year.
The fourth member of Wagner’s impressive recruiting class is, in his eyes, the most intriguing. 
“Paige Branstiter is a very unique player,” Wagner said. “She does things a little differently. She hits the ball extremely hard. I would compare her to Kim Babcock (standout Northern Arizona outside hitter Northern Arizona who graduated in 2008) in that she jumps hard and hits even harder. The one difference is Babcock was 5-foot-9 and Paige is 6-foot-1.”
Bransitter will play outside hitter and middle blocker.
The Montana volleyball team was picked to finish sixth in the 2008 Big Sky Conference pre-season poll voted on by the coaches. Wagner said he doesn’t put much into pre-season predictions.
“We don’t think of ourselves as a sixth-place team,” Wagner said. “If we think we will finish sixth then that’s where we will finish, but we have much higher expectations.”