Hard-hitting Harlowton sisters put on volleyball camp for Hot Springs

After going 20-5 last season and earning their first trip to the state championship, the Savage Heat volleyball team isn’t resting on their laurels. With the season still months away, most of the team spent last week in the gym taking part in a volleyball camp.

The three-day camp ran Thursday through Saturday with two sessions each day, a 9 to 11 morning session and a 1 to 3 afternoon session. The camp was put on by sisters Alli Jones and Ashley Henigman. Henigman said they were asked to instruct the camp by their brother-in-law and Hot Springs Athletic Director Chris Hess. She said Hot Springs coach Bonnie Franklin had told Hess that she wanted her team to work on their hitting and that was both of the sisters’ specialty when they were Lady Engineers at Harlowton.

After the morning session Friday, Henigman said she was impressed with what she had seen at camp so far. “They’re doing really well,” she said. “They definitely have a lot of potential.” she said. Henigman said they worked on passing Thursday and spent Friday dealing with hitting and blocking. She said after the Saturday morning session, any of the girls could come back to the afternoon session to get some one on one help.

Henigman said the team was attentive and really wanted to learn. She said she could tell they were committed to winning and weren’t afraid to learn new things. “They all kind of brightened up, whenever we taught them something they didn’t know,” Henigman said. She said this was especially true when they were learning how to double block.

Jones said she was impressed with the team’s attitude. Jones said the players all took their instructions in stride and tried to use it to improve their game. “It can be frustrating trying to learn new things, but they are definitely listening and trying to learn new things,” she said.

The Savage Heat could’ve been so attentive because the sisters career at Harlowton is something they would like to emulate. As a freshman, Henigman was on the first Lady Engineer team to make it to the state championship tournament, much like Hot Springs last year. Henigman would return to the tournament the next three years. The Lady Engineers took third her sophomore year and then won the state championship the next two years. Henigman was named the state’s MVP her junior year and along with her twin sister Amy Jones she was named co-MVP her senior year.

Henignman said she saw some similarites in her team and the Hot Springs team. “They’re good, but they could be really good,” she said.

After the camp, Hot Springs senior Jordon Fisher said the camp had something for everybody. “It really helped out a lot,” she said. Fisher said she saw improvement in most the whole team. She said the camp really helped out on their hitting and she was surprised at how much the team improved over the three days. “A lot of the girls improved more over the three days than they did the whole season,” Fisher said.

No matter what the improvement, it will be pointless unless the team keeps it fresh in their mind, said Jones. She said the camp was just a starting point and the team needs to keep practicing what they learned if they want to pay off. “How much they take from the camp, really depends on them. They need to be in the gym and playing together at least once a week,” Jones said.