Kaylie Loewen of the Pen High Lakers senior girls volleyball team is always striving to improve.
A year ago she changed the way she served. Loewen uses her right arm to set the ball in motion as she swings it up, shortly after being airborne, she smacks it at the opposition hoping to find a hole or force them to knock it out of play. Loewen began mastering the style during beach volleyball after always float serving.
“Serving is the key point of the game. I want to make my serve one of the toughest in the province,” said Loewen following a win against city rival Princess Margaret Mustangs during the Lakers’ Halloween tournament.
Her coach, Rob Gunning, said that Loewen sets lofty goals for herself, which she works hard to achieve. Her focus right now is working on her passing and serving.
Loewen is happy with her play this season and she’s confident once provincials arrive in late November, the Lakers will be looking good.
“I think we’re coming in very strong,” said Loewen.
While Loewen is determined to get better to help the Lakers, there is also her future to think about. Loewen will be signing her national letter of intent in the coming weeks to play for the Gonzaga University Bulldogs in Washington State next fall.
Loewen said securing her future in college volleyball was a long process. She was nervous as she wanted to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and had a couple of schools interested in her.
“Gonzaga offered and I went to a couple different schools before, and I went there, it just felt like home,” she said of the campus located in Spokane. “It’s pretty amazing. It’s nice to see all the hard work I’ve put in is now paying off.”
Gunning said for Loewen to get to where she wants, she needs to continue to work on being a little more aggressive on offence and raise her level of consistency.
“She likes to challenge herself, and I am sure she will do the work necessary to raise her game to the next level, both this year and in the future,” he said.
