{"id":2448540,"date":"2019-09-10T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/zanin-takes-over-aspen-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience\/"},"modified":"2019-09-10T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T05:04:00","slug":"zanin-takes-over-aspen-high-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/zanin-takes-over-aspen-high-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Zanin takes over Aspen High volleyball program with roster deep on seniors but short on experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.7660668380463\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312681-424\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1.jpg\" alt=\"Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/AHSvolleyball-atd-091119-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/zanin-takes-over-aspen-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/zanin-takes-over-aspen-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">The silver lining for Brittany Zanin comes in the form of a senior-heavy roster. The downside is the Aspen High School volleyball coach doesn\u2019t have much in the way of varsity experience to work with in her first season in charge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s a funny team this year in that they are not young necessarily \u2014 I have six seniors \u2014 just a majority of them haven\u2019t actually seen varsity playing time yet,\u201d Zanin said. \u201cThere has been a lot of emphasis the past three years I\u2019ve been here on the girls we just lost, so these girls I don\u2019t think have had a chance to really develop on their own and build their own team. I\u2019m interested to see how that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Skiers open their season Thursday at home against Roaring Fork. Opening serve is set for 6:30 p.m., with the \u201cC\u201d team (4:30) and junior varsity team (5:30) both scheduled to play prior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This will be Zanin\u2019s first game as the team\u2019s head coach, having previously served as an assistant the past two seasons. She is a 2007 AHS graduate who has played for just about every notable volleyball coach in the Roaring Fork Valley, including Matt Bergdahl, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-volleyball-hopes-experience-yields-success\/\">who was the AHS coach her senior season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bergdahl stepped away from the Aspen program for a few years following the 2007 season but returned as its head coach in 2013. He again stepped down after the 2016 season to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/holmes-named-new-varsity-coach-for-aspen-high-volleyball\/\">make way for Bailey Holmes<\/a>, Aspen\u2019s head coach the past two seasons, with Zanin helping.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cShe\u2019s been coaching here for three years so all of the seniors know her really well and all the underclassmen are getting to know her this year,\u201d AHS senior Kat Goralka said of Zanin taking over for Holmes. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s pretty similar, but she definitely has her own ways to go about things, which is exciting. It\u2019s definitely been a comfortable transition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 2018 season was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/confident-experienced-aspen-volleyball-heads-to-regionals-looking-for-more\/\">best for AHS in about two decades<\/a>, with the team going 18-7 overall. The Skiers beat Salida in their regional tournament before losing to Valley, 3-0. Aspen is trying to replace seven seniors from that group, notably outside hitter Mary Williams and setter Gaia Murphy. Goralka, along with junior Zuleika Hanson, are the lone returners with any significant varsity experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been working really hard, so I\u2019ve seen a lot of improvement throughout all my teammates. They are working really hard and they are inspired to play,\u201d said Zuleika Hanson, whose sister, Jasmin Hanson, was among the seniors to graduate last year. Jasmin is playing volleyball for NCAA Division III <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rmcathletics.com\/sports\/wvball\/2019-20\/roster\">Randolph-Macon College<\/a> in Virginia this fall. \u201cWe are confident enough to see how it goes and try our best and have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Regarding expectations this season, there are simply too many unknowns. But considering 2018 Western Slope League champion Coal Ridge also lost a deep senior class, there is reason to believe AHS can hang with the top of the WSL. Cedaredge, last year\u2019s league runner-up, only lost a single senior so should be the favorite coming in. As of <a href=\"https:\/\/chsaanow.com\/2019-09-09\/colorado-high-school-volleyball-rankings-sept-9-2019\/\">this week\u2019s CHSAANow.com rankings<\/a>, only Cedaredge (No. 10) is ranked. Coal Ridge is effectively 14th this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think we are going to be a contender up there again. Will it happen right out of the gate? I don\u2019t know,\u201d Zanin said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a different pace and a different year, but what I\u2019ve seen to now I\u2019m excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>BASALT VOLLEYBALL SWEPT BY MOFFAT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Basalt High School volleyball team hosted Moffat County on Tuesday, losing 3-0 in its home opener. Set scores were 25-12, 25-23 and 27-25. Now 1-4 overall, the Longhorns will next host Olathe on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BASALT SOFTBALL STAYS PERFECT, SWEEPS EAGLE VALLEY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Basalt High School softball team improved to 8-0 on the season by sweeping host Eagle Valley on Tuesday. Scores were 13-7 and 14-9. The Longhorns are scheduled to play Conifer on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Aspen High School softball team also played Tuesday, falling 18-2 and 25-3 at Gunnison to drop to 0-8 on the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/zanin-takes-over-aspen-volleyball-program-with-roster-deep-on-seniors-but-short-on-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coach Brittany Zanin leads the Aspen High School volleyball team practice on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times The Aspen High School volleyball team practices on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Coach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 12:39:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}