Megan Bodnar knows the commitment it takes to be successful in the athletic arena.

Bodnar, Oak Harbor's first-year volleyball coach, played guard on the Rockets' basketball teams that put together back-to-back 20-0 regular seasons during her junior and senior year (2004).

Now, her task is to resurrect a volleyball program that has had four head coaches in the past five years. This year's squad returns four letterwinners from a team that finished 3-18 in 2009.

“They haven't really had much of a program set up and put in place for these girls to even want to play volleyball,” said Bodnar, who previously served as Cardinal Stritch's junior varsity coach from 2006-08.

Heading into Thursday's Sandusky Bay Conference match at Clyde, the Rockets were 1-7 overall and winless in four SBC matches.

“I have a young team,” Bodnar said. “I start five sophomores, so that's part of it.”

Oak Harbor, which has eight varsity players, earned its first win last Saturday against Danbury. The Rockets have lost to Genoa, defending Division III state champion Huron, Sandusky Perkins, Margaretta, Edison, Lake and Port Clinton.

Bodnar said getting her players to establish a winning mentality is priority No. 1.

“At practice we do a ton of competitive drills to get them used to winning at something,” she said. “We set daily goals for passing, setting, hitting. When they accomplish it, I set the goal higher the next time. The mindset was definitely the biggest thing, staying positive instead of shutting down.”

The Rockets' returning letterwinners are senior setter Kirsten Platzke, senior hitter Stephanie Benner, senior libero Taylor Reau and sophomore hitter Maggie Zurvalec. Platzke and Zurvalec are team captains.

“Those four are our leaders on the court,” Bodnar said. “When people start to get down, they're the ones who try to bring them up. They can read people a lot better because of their experience. Maggie is a good one. She played middle front last year and I moved her to left front and now she's back at middle front, and she's been doing well. She's the most consistent of all of them. She can get any ball and get it over the net.”

Reau consistently leads the team in digs and is a strong defensive player, according to Bodnar. Sophomore middle hitter Katelyn Tice leads the Rockets in kills with nearly six per match.

“She's very hard to read on her hits,” Bodnar said, “and it's pretty hard to block her.”

The coach added that the Rockets have shown improvement throughout the season.

“We're going for baby steps,” Bodnar said. “Every day at practice I give them passes and they have to make so many in a row before we move on to something else. I throw them in game situations with every little drill we do at practice. It was rough at first, but now it's starting to pay off.”

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