ShawneeDispatch.com

For a group of girls just winging it, the 2007 season turned out pretty darn good for the St. James Academy volleyball team.

OK, so the Thunder weren't exactly "winging it." Still, they made the game look awfully easy at times while compiling a 45-1 record on their way to a runner-up finish at the Class 4A state tournament.

Not bad for a team that previously had never been to state and had zero seniors on the roster.

That's the message St. James coach Nancy Dorsey reminded her team after it lost in the state finals to a senior-dominated Topeka Hayden club in three games. As true as her message may have been, it was tough to accept.

"From the kids' perspective, they just have a bad taste in their mouth of having lost the state championship and being second place," Dorsey said. "That's their focus, and that's certainly ours (coaches')."

Expectations for 2008 are high. St. James was ranked No. 10 nationally in the Prep Volleyball preseason rankings. Despite the hype, the Thunder enter the season with one goal in mind: state championship. Matching or improving upon the 45-1 record isn't of concern, Dorsey said.

"We know what it's like to lose the last game of the season, and we don't want to do that ever again," she said. "So if we can avoid it, we're going to make sure that happens. The focus of the kids is, 'hey, whatever it takes, we're not going to lose the last game of the season. If we lose games in between, that's the least of our concern.'"

The Thunder anticipated an emotional season when they opened practice and embarked on another quest for a state championship, but 2008 will hold a few more storylines as well. For one, the team - and the school - will have seniors for the first time. In the case of the volleyball program, that means six seniors, all of whom Dorsey and her husband, assistant coach Bryan Dorsey, have had the unique experience of coaching for all four years of high school.

"We have a really unique relationship with them," she said. "They really trust us. It's kind of a big sister, big brother situation. We just really care about each other, and I told them you just have to embrace the fact that you have such a strong relationship with your coaches. Very rarely does a coach get to coach a person for four years, let alone six kids."

The "six kids" are Kelly Kolich, Tess Smrt, Nia Williams, Rachel Gray, Bridget Blowey and Brook Jansen. All will provide leadership in various ways, Dorsey said.

Kolich was a first-team all-state performer in 2007. She led the Thunder with 343 kills and was second with 216 digs and 52 aces.

Jansen is another heavy hitter, having posted 243 kills in 2007.

Brown had 182 kills, Bridget Blowey had 180 and Smrt had 119.

Second-team all-state player Gray quarterbacked the offense with 425 assists and 119 kills.

Jansen and Williams, the team's libero, lead the St. James defense. Jansen, a first-team all-state selection, led the team with 104 solo blocks and 84 block assists in 2007. Dorsey called her "one of the best blockers I've ever coached or ever seen." Williams, a second-team all-state pick, had a team-high 347 digs and added 24 service aces.

Junior setter Lauren Brown (532 assists) and sophomore Hanna Forst (123 kills) also return from last year's varsity. Sophomore Morgan Voorhes joins the varsity roster this fall and will fill a variety of roles.

With such a loaded roster, the Thunder's story always comes back around to winning a state title. The volleyball team's state berth last year was the first for the school in any sport. Then last spring the girls soccer team won the state championship. The volleyball team wants its own banner on the gym wall. The players wanted one last year, and their only loss served as the driving force behind offseason training.

The schedule will be tougher this fall as it features dates with defending Class 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas, 5A fourth-place finisher Lansing and trips to the Hayden Tournament and the Valley Center Tournament. Plus, on Oct. 3-4 the Thunder will travel to Chicago to play in the Nike Challenge at Dorsey's prep alma mater, Mother McAuley High School. Other nationally ranked teams will be there, as will some of Dorsey's former coaches. Dorsey's sister and fellow Mother McAuley alum Jennifer Bell also is a St. James assistant coach and will be making the trip.

"I told them we're going into that tournament with the idea that we can compete, but also because we need to be tried and tested a lot of times before going on to substate and hopefully state," Dorsey said. "State isn't guaranteed, and I tell the kids that all the time. We still have to earn that and we're going to earn it on every single point of every single game of every single match."

If all goes well in Chicago, at regionals and again at state, then the bitterness of last year's lone loss just might disappear.

"They're determined more than anything," she said. "I think they feel like they still have a lot to prove. I tell them what you accomplished last year was amazing, especially when you don't have a single senior on your team and they (Hayden) had seven seniors. But that's tough to swallow, even if you only lose one match.

"That's pretty special and they know that, but they still feel like they have to prove themselves, that they're legit and they want to win state. That's their goal, and I sure hope that it happens."