It’s been just one week now since the volleyball season came to a conclusion for the girls at Pella High, and yet somehow basketball season is already upon them – again.  The short turnaround is by no means a new issue for Head Coach Jerod Garland and his staff, as five consecutive appearances at the State Tournament and a long-running tradition of excellence has made a running transition between volleyball and basketball commonplace.

“We know we’re not going to get the bulk of our team until a week-and-a-half into practice, and that’s a good thing. That means those [volleyball] girls are having success; and with Coach Fessler and his staff, we’re just going to expect that every year. It’s kind of the status quo now,” said Garland.

“We know that going in, and we just try to build practice by practice. Now we’ve gotten the volleyball girls back in practice this week, so we can add a little bit.”

Garland says with the rest of the team joining practices this week, the team has been focusing mainly on the fundamentals and working little-by-little to be ready for the season opener.  The Pella girls basketball team finished last season with an 18-5 mark and were second behind Knoxville in the Little Hawkeye Conference. 

The Lady Dutch officially opens the 2010-2011 campaign on Tuesday night against 2010 Class 3-A State Semifinalist, Ballard.