By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
EVERGREEN – A volleyball setter is like a basketball point guard. That player must be able to, in a nutshell, make everyone else on the court better because of what they do.
The success of the same person can be measured in the number of times the rest of the team scores because of a great pass.
Volleyball-wise, Evergreen setter Lissa Roesti has helped make the 6-1 Vikings a danger to opponents in the way she has created an uncanny knack of finding the right hitter in the right spot at the right time.
Recently, Roesti’s reached a setter’s ultimate goal. During the second set of a win over Holgate, fellow senior Beth Sintobin hammered down a pass that gave Roesti 1,000 assists in her Viking career.
She has a chance to add a large number to that total as the Vikings have 15 more regular-season games, and the tournament left this year.
“Lissa plays a lot of club volleyball as well, so she puts in a lot of time in the off-season too,” said Viking coach Kelsey Wulf.
“Anytime hitters want to stay after practice, she will do that, too. She has offered to stay after herself just to get extra reps in; she is constantly working. Her work ethic is unmatched; it’s really, really hard to beat.”
Roesti reinforced those comments. “Playing a lot of travel, I get a lot of reps, and that has helped in the off-season. Over the summer, we are at school twice a week for three hours, working a lot of conditioning so I’m able to get my feet under me to meet the ball better.”
With a stable full of hitters in Sintobin, Lanae Manz, Avery Emmitt, Bailey Lumbrezer, just to name a few, Wulf explains that her senior leader has the court sense to get the ball to hitters where they like it.
“Lissa has such a high game IQ, and I think that it has grown from playing club during the winter and spring,” explained Wulf.
“She has seen so many different situations, and now that we are running a 5-1, I want her hands on the volleyball as much as possible.”
“She does a really good job of seeing the court, knowing situations in the game, and again, that is just from how much time she has played.”
Roesti agreed regarding Wulf’s statements. “I like to think I have a pretty good IQ for volleyball because I have spent so much time on the court. We have really great hitters too, and they really wanted me to hit that goal; those guys work so hard every day.”
“They were really excited when Beth put it down because they knew what it meant. I’m so thankful for those guys.” Needing 15 assists against Holgate to reach 1,000, Wulf said Roesti and her teammates were in tune with the moment.
“I think everyone was aware before the game, and everyone was really excited to get it for her. It’s been kind of in the back of her head since the beginning of the season.
“She knew, and we were kind of counting down that game, so there was high anticipation. It was great for her to achieve it, especially at home.”
