Kaitlyn Kapp with the kill and Eleanor Montgomery with the assist are always what coaches look for in every game. The Cannon Falls volleyball C-Squad team looks a little different this year, with more girls being promoted to be prepared for what the future volleyball program might hold.
This year’s Cannon Falls volleyball C-Squad team consists of nine players. Four of the players on the team are 8th graders who got bumped up to play on the 9th-grade team, and the rest of the players are freshmen. The team roster consists of Makenna Otterness, Morgan Robinson, Kaitlyn Kapp, Brooklyn Lee, London Bentzin, Autumn Gagnon, Brekkyn Ayres, Lizzie Tipton, and Eleanor Montgomery. The whole team voted on captains after their first scrimmage of the season; the voted captains are Makenna Otterness and Brekkyn Ayres.
The team has suffered some extreme losses and some pretty fun wins in the beginning to almost the middle of the season. The team is almost or very near the end of their season, with their record being 6 wins and 5 losses so far. Even though they have lost games and suffered hard situations, the whole team contributes to making sure nobody gets into their head and everyone stays positive. Makenna Otterness, a setter on the team, says, “I handle a hard situation on the volleyball court by calming everybody down and telling them that it’s okay to mess up.”
The team is coached by Madasyn Austin, a speech therapist for Cannon Falls Elementary School. The C-squad team practices from 3:15-5:15 every day, except on weekends and the days they have games. They practice and work hard for the full two hours because they know how hard they have to work if they want to win. Coach Austin pushes them to their limits so they can prepare for challenging teams in future games. During some practices, Austin brings her little ones to come and watch the girls practice and be little helpers to their mom. Lizzie Tipton, an outside on the team, says, “I love when Madda brings her kids to our practices, they are so cute and they make everyone laugh and smile and they cheer everyone up.” The kids are always coming from either school or daycare, and the girls love to see them and their cute faces.
There have been several injuries with the girls on the team this season, but with such a small team, they have to be cautious of what they do, so that they don’t get injured and can’t play. Especially with only nine players, and with six of them on the court at a time. They also had two tournaments this year, one away at Lakeville North, where they placed sixth out of sixteen teams. They also had a home tournament in which they placed 4th out of twelve teams this time. Then the C-Squad team also has to ref a few tournaments for other levels this season, too.
Normally, the C-Squad team only has one team feed during a season. But this year, the team decided to spend more time with the team outside of school, practices, and games just to bond and build the trust needed on the court. In conclusion, the Cannon Falls Volleyball Program has been bumping the number of girls up to be prepared for what future seasons might look like with the number of players. With injuries, sicknesses, or just a shorter number of players for volleyball, nobody ever knows what the future volleyball program might hold.
