The Manitou Springs girls volleyball team gets a much-needed boost this season with the return of Grace Allen. The senior missed all of the 2021 fall after suffering a knee injury during the 2020-21 basketball season.
Spending a year on the bench wasn’t an ideal way for Allen to participate with the team, but heading into her senior year it helped further her understanding of the game and should impact her on-court play this season.
“Communication and trusting your teammates is super important,” Allen said. “On the bench, you can see when people look at each other and think the other one should’ve had the ball. (I learned a lot about) communication, trusting each other and trusting yourself.”
The Mustangs put together a solid 2021 season, but it ended short of reaching the state tournament. The senior class has spent the majority of its time on the varsity roster and the experience is something that coach Crissy Leonhardt knows will be vital to the team’s success this fall.
“They’ll have some mental toughness,” she said. “That’s my expectation is that there is going to be a lot of mental toughness this year.”
Manitou lost four seniors from last year’s team, along with Avah Armour, who transferred to Rampart. Those losses do not make the Mustangs an unexperienced team, considering that most of this year’s starters have at least two years of varsity play under their belts.
That will come in handy with the team looking to compete in the Tri-Peaks.
“Leadership is a big part of it with the seniors this year,” Ayla Flett said. “We have so much experience and there are a few girls on this team who don’t have a lot of experience. We need to take them under our wing and be supportive.”
Seeing some non-league teams, such as Lutheran and Doherty, will be helpful in making the team battle-ready for league play.
Simply playing tougher teams isn’t enough, however. The Mustangs know that the work they put in outside of the matches will be what propels them back into regionals — and give them a chance to make the state tournament for the first time since 2015.
“We have to push ourselves in practice,” Allen said. “We have goals this season and we need to focus in practice and in games and improve every day.”
Manitou Springs Girls Volleyball
Head coach: Crissy Leonhardt
2021 result: 20-5 (10-1 Tri-Peaks), regional appearance
Key returners: Grace Allen, Ayla Flett, Lily Glass, Norah Jorstad
First competition: Aug. 23 vs. Fowler