The Anselmo-Merna booster club hosted its annual fall sports kickoff on Thursday at the Fubar in Anselmo. The event featured interviews with coaches and players of the Anselmo-Merna volleyball and football teams.
The AM volleyball team finished 2022 with a 19-11 overall record. Coach Katie Hoblyn told the audience that she enjoys working with this year’s team and is excited to see how they continue to come together during the season.
“I think that’s the fun part of volleyball. Our seniors leave and we bring in a new group and your chemistry changes. The atmosphere of your team changes. So you continuously build that throughout the season. Obviously when you have older girls, your juniors and seniors, they’re setting that culture, the chemistry. I think this is going to be a great year for these girls. They really gel well together.”
When asked about the keys for this year’s team to meet its full potential, coach Hoblyn spoke of communication.
“Communication – we need to work on that communication piece but then just the experience and getting used to playing next to who they are going to play with and just becoming more comfortable as a group.”
AM volleyball will open their season August 26th at the Overton Tournament.
The Anselmo-Merna football team will look to improve on a 3-5 record last season. Troy Gilligan enters his second year as head coach. Coach Gilligan said he has been pleased with the team chemistry in practice.
“Last year we had a lot of spots to fill as we had a big senior class that left. This year we have a lot of kids back so this year they’re going to have a lot more experience. Their chemistry is really clicking. A lot better this year than I think it probably did at the beginning of last year and I’m super excited for them.”
When asked what has stood out to him during fall camp, Gilligan mentioned the defense.
“I’ve been really happy with the way our defense has communicated. We put in a couple of different wrinkles and they’ve really stepped up. They’ve learned and listened and they’ve been looking really good on defense.”
In order to meet their full potential, coach Gilligan said the key will be playing physical and smart football.
“I think we just have to play physical, violent, smart football for four quarters each and every week. We can’t come out one week and play three quarters we have to come out every week and be ready to go.”
Anselmo-Merna will play in the D2-9 district this season with South Loup, Sandhills/Thedford, Mullen, Hyannis, and Leyton. The Coyotes start the season August 25th when they travel to take on Twin Loup. The game will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and kbbn.com.
