Varsity volleyball heating up Peterson court Published April 7, 2008 By Walt Johnson The Peterson Sports Guy PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- In April 2007 the Peterson varsity volleyball team began a quest that would see it go undefeated and win the championship in the Colorado Springs volleyball league. The 2007 team was loaded with talented players and its showing was a reflection of the power and skill that team possessed. This year's edition of the Peterson volleyball team came into its season opener April 1 with as young a group as the previous edition was experienced. Last year's team was playing in the league for the first time and may have been able to sneak up on the league. This year's team won't have that luxury as it has become the hunted. And to top it off, the league schedule had the team playing the group, B and H that gave it its toughest battle last year. Peterson coach Jim Harper didn't know what to expect from his team as his talented but inexperienced (in terms of playing with each other) team before the opener. After the Peterson team won the match on a two point win in the third game Harper knew a little more about his team. "Our team is a bit younger than last year in terms of court sense," Coach Harper said. "Tonight we got caught a couple of times trying to make the spectacular play rather than just hold back and let the other team make mistakes. Then again maybe we had to take some chances because that team played very well and they were not going to make many mistakes." The match turned out to be as exciting as you could want as Peterson won the first game and B and H took the second setting up the third and deciding game. While Coach Harper would love to see his team repeat its success of last year he understands this is a different year with different player (there are some holdovers from last year) with a different challenge. "We went undefeated last year and we have high expectations for ourselves this year," Coach Harper said. "Potentially I think we have just as good a chance to go undefeated as we did last year. We have a phenomenal team but I have already seen that the other teams in the league have stepped up its play quite a bit. Tonight you saw a team that was just scrappy and that may be the way teams play us this year. They may not try to outplay us but they will try to limit its mistakes and play us tough." Coach Harper said the personality of this team is still developing. He said because it is a younger team than he had last year there are some volleyball basics that the team is still working on. Last year he said he only had three players that had not been professionally coached before they were on the team and they knew about things like defensive and offensive philosophy. "This year we have a lot of raw talent but they don't have the same experience on the court. We are now teaching them to play a flexible defense, learning how to run the lines and learning how to be aggressive and not assume other people are going to make the play. We run what we call a 6-2 offense which means there are three hitters in the front row at all times and two people that switch out setting. Every one of our players understand that in our system they are considered hitters whether they are in the front of the line or in the back line. It will take some time for them to get comfortable doing the system but we have been practicing on it a lot. The key is all six players have to be ready on every single volley (to attack the ball)," Coach Harper said. One other thing this team has that should help it be successful this year is the team chemistry. Watch the players on and off the floor and you see people genuinely pulling for each other to do well. There is no room on this team for anything but a commitment to each other and the players love it that way according Sarah Bensch, a newcomer to the team. "We have great charisma, everyone on the team play the game well and we have a good time being teammates and that is why I come out here. One of the great things is we learn from each other. It's a competitive league; it challenges us and keeps us on our toes," Teammate Bensch said. Coach Harper said an undefeated season may happen but that will not be a measure of success for this year's team. He said there are other challenges far more important to the team and if it achieves those goals it can call this year just as successful as last year. "If the players develop as a team and learn to play at a competitive level as a team will be the measure of success for this team. Also, I want the players to come here and have a good time. If we are going to be undefeated and miserable what's the point? I'd rather be happy and not win them all and be a cohesive team," Coach Harper said.