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Top talent has Helias eying sucessful volleyball season

By sports@newstribune.com sports@newstribune.com

Published: Monday, August 31, 2009 1:19 PM CDT

The season hasn't even started yet, and the Helias volleyball team has already made history.

The accomplishment comes thanks to two seniors - middle hitter Kelsey Toebben and outside hitter Julia Whitfield.

“As far as I know, Helias has never had a Division I volleyball player before, and this year, we have two,” Helias coach David Harris said. “So that's a pretty good foundation.”

Toebben, a returning all-district and all-region performer, has committed to Saint Louis University.

“She set (single-season) school records in solo blocks, assisted blocks and total blocks,” Harris said. “One of the things we've been stressing is blocking, either blocking the ball back down to the court or making hitters hit it around the block to our defense, and she does a great job of that.”

Whitfield, who returns to the Lady Crusaders after a year's absence, has committed to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She spent her first two years with Helias before transferring to Incarnate Word Academy last season. But now she's back to give the Lady Crusaders another weapon.

“She's ready to go,” Harris said. “Not just her offense, but also her leadership and experience in big games, is helping us a lot already.”

Those two head up a very deep team, as Helias will carry 14 players on its varsity roster for the season that starts Tuesday at Waynesville.

“I kind of promised myself that I was only going to keep 12, but when it came down to it, I've got 14,” Harris said.

Having that many on the roster could turn out to be a positive, as Harris said the team has been hampered by some nagging injuries over the summer and into the preseason practices.

“With the injuries and how some of them are still healing, I'm not sure if they're going to hold up or not,” he said. “We needed to have some contingency plans, so we went with 14.”

Harris has experience with carrying big rosters in the past, including last year, when the Lady Crusaders also had 14 on the varsity.

To view the entire article, please go to our e-edition/">e-edition.


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