The Grand Rapids volleyball team has returned confident from their 2023 Class AAA state consolation championship.

They did, however, graduate seven seniors from that squad, including starting setter Braya LaPlant who’s now a St. Cloud State Husky. Her shoes are ones senior Annika Grose now steps into.

“Braya was a very calm player. She was always collected and just very smart with the ball. I would just observe and watch her do that, and that helped me learn a lot. I’m actually really excited to see where this year brings us because I know we have the talent to get there,” Grose said.

“I think that the bar is set pretty high this year just because we did lose a lot of our main players, but I think we can do it,” senior captain Adrienne Venditto added.

The Thunderhawks are ushering another LaPlant into their upperclassmen ranks. Colby LaPlant, Braya’s younger sister, is now a junior outside hitter for Grand Rapids.

“It’s looking pretty good,” LaPlant said about the 2024 season. “We have played in the offseason for our JO [Junior Olympic] season. We were kind of on the same team, so it is a little bit easier. Just for sure getting to know everybody and bonding together is really important.”

She, along with head coach Rebekah Morris, are ready to get down to business in the varsity season.

“Every year I have them on the first day of practice get together before practice and kind of come up with a quote. This year they picked ‘progress over perfection’. I think that’s huge because we do have quite a few perfectionists on our team and being able to kind of let that go and just be 1% better every single day,” Morris said.

The Thunderhawks will serve up their season opener Tuesday, August 27 visiting North Branch.