The Beaver Dam High volleyball team will open the 2018 season at home Tuesday against Sandy Valley at 5:30 p.m. inside the BDHS Snake Pit.
The Lady Diamondbacks are hoping to improve on last season’s 5-7 overall mark and will have a new head coach to guide them this season.
Charyn McDonnell will take over the program after a late coaching change right before the start of tryouts. McDonnell will be assisted by her husband Mike Zielaskowski, who will coach the junior varsity team.
McDonnell previously was an assistant coach in Culver, Oregon. She assisted head coach Randi Viggiano, her daughter, as Culver High School win the Oregon 2A state championship in 2012. Culver also had a state runner-up and third-place finish the past five years.
Beaver Dam, which has a total of 16 girls out for varsity and JV, will have three returning seniors that are being counted on to lead the team – outside hitter Kynnedie Ellingford, outside hitter and setter Lexii Frickberg and middle blocker Dakota Hurst.
Other players who will see action at the varsity level are juniors Sandra Beltran and Vanessa Quevedo along with sophomores Elizabeth Jensen, Nancy Lopez, Shyanne Pierce and April Snyder.
After hosting Sandy Valley, the Lady D-Backs will hit the road for four consecutive matches – Aug. 30 at El Capitan (Colorado City, Arizona), Aug. 31 at Fredonia, Arizona, Sept. 4 at Somerset-Losee (North Las Vegas) and Sept. 6 at Water Canyon (Hilldale, Utah).
Beaver Dam will host El Capitan in a rematch on Sept. 12 before opening league play on Sept. 14 at Alamo against two-time defending state 1A champion Pahranagat Valley.
The Lady D-Backs will compete in the Nevada 1A South League along with Beatty, Green Valley Christian, Indian Springs, Liberty Baptist, Pahranagat Valley, Sandy Valley and Word of Life.
