Coach Doering ready for last V-ball campaign

Coach Sue Doering gets special recognition from Principal Carrie Lipe at Meet the Bulldogs night.

Colfax Coach Sue Doering Monday greeted volleyball players to start her last season with the Bulldogs. Doering has vowed to wrap up her storied coaching career with this fall’s campaign.

She resigned her teaching post with the district last year and has moved to Lewiston with husband Eric. For the campaign this year, she plans to commute.

Doering will start the season with many of her players back from last season when the Bulldogs roared through the NE League competition and rolled to state at Yakima in search of a fourth straight title.

They were stopped by Mossyrock in the quarter-final round at the SunDome and went on to defeat two other NE entrants to finish fifth.

Doering has headed Colfax volleyball since 1988. Over that time her Bulldog teams have captured 13 titles in the A and 2B divisions.

A big part of her decision to coach for one more year was the return of a core of the power players who made up a big part of the run last year as juniors.

“We were a young team last year,” Doering noted.

The Bulldog netters showed a lot of mettle in last year’s campaign and return with a lineup that can be expected to be better for the experience.

Colfax finished with an overall 28-5 record last year. Its lone loss to a team in the 2B team for the whole campaign was to Mossyrock in that quarter-final game.

Four grads of the power team from last year were Taylor Garcia, Sarah Kraut, Alexie Smith and Parker Warwick

Also gone from last year will be Jojo Stolle, the German exchange student who played a key role in the campaign last year as a 15-year-old.

Carmen Gfeller, league MVP last year, will return for her senior sports year. Also back will be Abbie Miller, Piper Cai and Greta Geier, also seniors. Varsity players back as juniors will be Madi Cox, Rachel Brown and Kylie Kackman.

Doering said she expects some of the players on the jayvee squad will move up the the varsity this year.

The Bulldogs will also have 14 freshmen who have turned out for the team.

Assistant coaches Shawna Kneale and Casey Zander will again be part of the campaign this year.