The setter for the Foothills Falcons girls volleyball team might have a bright future as a hand model.
Coaches are raving about Falcon Haley Jensen’s great hands.
“Foothills’ setter has some of the best hands I have seen in our league,” said Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans coach Michelle Bartoshyk. “It is really nice to see how she can push the ball out and set up opposite motion. She is a strong player for them.”
Falcons coach Jenilee Delday Hemsing admitted her team is in good hands with the Grade 12 Jensen setting to Foothills’ powerful hitters.
“She just has natural hands and is a great athlete,” Hemsing said. “She is also a smart player. She is good at making the quick decisions — making the right decisions at the right time.”
Jensen gets her volleyball brains honestly. Her playpen likely came with a volleyball net and a pair of court shoes.
“I have been playing since I was really little,” Jensen said. “My dad (Shawn) played at SAIT and my mom (Tanya) played in high school at Lord Beaverbrook. They had a huge influence on my brother and me in volleyball.”
Her brother, Conner, played for the Holy Trinity Academy Knights.
Jensen was a hitter when she first started playing volleyball with the Red Deer Lake Dragons in junior high school. However, she was a middle for one year rather than a setter in junior high.
“In Grade 8 I moved to middle and I really enjoyed hitting the ball,” Jensen said. “Then in Grade 9, they made me a setter, which is not what I wanted at the time, but I started to like it. In Grade 10 I was the setter in high school at Foothills.”
It’s Jensen’s job to get the volleyball in an ideal position so a teammate can then try to dent the gymnasium floor with a spike. If she puts it in the wrong spot, the hitter will spike the volleyball with the velocity of a butterfly flying into a Chinook wind, or even worse, an opposition blocker will snuff the Falcons’ attack.
She can’t explain how her brain works in the split-second decision as to where and to whom she is setting the ball.
“I always thought it would be interesting to put some sort of brain-device on my head when I am setting,” Jensen said with a laugh. “There are so many unaccountable possibilities going through my head. Where to set, where the team is on the other side, where their good passers are, who my hitters are on the front row and how they match up against the blockers on the other side.
“I try to have the play mapped out in my head before the serve, but sometimes it doesn’t work out.”
She credits her teammates’ passing ability to dig the ball for allowing her to give a good set to the hitters.
“Our passing is very, very good,” Jensen said. “Our primary passers are Jenna (Thomson), Brooklyn Bouvier and Karina Richichi. Jackie (Leaney) is also a good passer, even if she won’t ever admit it.”
She’s heard the “good hands” thing before.
“I guess soft hands means I don’t get called on doubles (hits) or carries very often,” she said. “I guess it means that I am planting my feet and getting square to the target — the ball is nicely placed and there are no spins.”
She added the Falcons’ hitters, which include, Leaney, Bouvier and others, can hammer the ball — which always makes the setter looks good.
Jensen’s long-term goal is to play for the Brigham Young University Cougars after graduating from Foothills in the spring. Last weekend, the Falcons visited her mom and dad’s alma mater Lord Beaverbrook High School and won the Lords Invitational Tournament.
The Falcons played the Holy Trinity Academy Knights on Oct. 23, but results were too late for the Western Wheel’s deadline.
They will play in the Foothills Athletic Council semifinals on Oct. 30 at a yet to be determined site.
For further information go to www.foothillsathletics.ca
