DGS Volleyball Preview: Seniors Showing Their Class

Not many fans turned out to watch the girls volleyball team last season.

That wasn’t too surprising considering the Mustangs weren’t very good. Suffering from a lack of senior leadership, endured its second consecutive losing season, going 12-25 after a lackluster 11-25 in 2009.

But a group of six seniors is aiming to change that this fall. Dissention is down and enthusiasm up as the Mustangs attempt to resume the success that defined the program for more than a generation.

“There was a lot of tension the past two years and that’s what we’re trying to get away from,” senior right-side hitter Kate Pringle said. “Everybody who is a senior has a strong personality, so nobody is not a leader.”

Senior Kelly Bowe said that will work to South’s advantage.

“I think we all look at each other as equals,” Bowe said. “No one is really ranked better than the other ones.”

The Mustangs lack a true go-to player, but the senior core of Pringle, Bowe, Alison Dec, Cassidy Herrmann, Jessica Pikul and Carlie Serritella provide a strong, stable nucleus. That will come in handy during the inevitable challenges of playing a schedule that includes games against seven teams ranked in the top 10 in the Chicago area.

“I think it’s hard because when you’re (playing) such a tough schedule, we always come out looking like, ‘Oh, they’re not having a good year,’ ” second-year coach Trisha Kurth said. “But this year, they’re just very well-rounded. We don’t have the one player on the team that’s (dominant). It’s nice that they work well together, better than they have in years past. I think that’s something I’m excited to see in the girls.”

The Mustangs, who open at home Aug. 30 against Wheaton Warrenville South — which is coached by  alum Bill Schreier — and travel to perennial power Mother McAuley the next night, have one big goal in mind and that is winning the West Suburban Conference Gold Division championship.

has won the league 23 times, including 14 straight years from 1995-2008, but took third two years ago and second in 2010 behind Hinsdale South.

“That’s our goal is to take back conference from Hinsdale South,” Serritella said. “We lost it by one game” last year.

The Mustangs are keenly aware of their program’s proud tradition, which includes state championships in 1996, 1999 and 2002, and the team does not lack for athleticism or good genes. Bowe, a 5-6 outside hitter and defensive specialist, and Serritella, a 5-2 defensive whiz, both have older sisters who starred for the Mustangs.

Dec, Herrmann, Pikul and juniors Kirstin Zemke and Kelly Schmitt are multisport athletes. Herrmann is a club swimmer, while Dec and Zemke play varsity basketball and Schmitt is a softball pitcher.

Pikul is the most intriguing member of that group. A star defender on South’s highly regarded soccer team, which has compiled a 33-9-4 record the past two seasons, Pikul has not played high school volleyball since her freshman year and was a team manager last fall. But the right-side hitter is one of the best athletes on the team and is determined to restore the program’s greatness.

“I know these girls have had a hard time” the last couple of years, Pikul said. “Just being together as a team, though, a lot of them have already had one year of experience on varsity. I think that one year just helps so much as far as being able to mesh and being able to play up to our ability for varsity. Everyone will” contribute.

Those contributions won’t be limited to the seniors. Setter Danielle Conrad, a 5-9 junior, is another returning starter and will run the offense, while 5-9 junior outside hitter Olivia Zarek and sophomore Rachel Smith will vie for playing time. Smith is the niece of former coach Rich Griesheim.

“I think we’re more together as a team,” Dec said. “We’re connected really well this year.”