SHEPHERD — Baker senior Hope Gonsioroski sat patiently last year waiting for her body to get healthy enough to join her Spartan teammates on the volleyball floor.
“Over the summer I started getting foot pain and I bypassed it, but it turned out I had a stress fracture in my navicular," Gonsioroski said.
The navicular is a wedge-shaped bone in the midfoot that plays a key role in the foot's structure and function.
Despite the time off, Gonsioroski wasn’t herself when she returned for Baker’s postseason games last season. That run ended at the Southern B divisional tournament after consecutive heartbreaking five-set losses.
“I thought we had a lot of girls that if you watch them this year, last year they had to play a lot of positions they weren't familiar with and that's honestly made us a better team (this season)," Baker head coach Jessica Boggs said.
“We actually walked into the Columbus gym for the (2024) opening tournament and we were like, 'We hate this place,'" Gonsioroski said in reference to the 2023 Southern B tournament. "It helped because we had some redemption there, too. Definitely we think about that like, 'I don't want to feel that again.'"
It’s not like the Spartans are strangers to the big stage, as most of the girls that play volleyball helped bring home a state hoops title back in March. That attitude has carried over to the fall.
“I have a group of girls that knows how to win," Boggs said. "They know how to close games, even in tight games. Their mental capacity or their composure is unreal. It's un-leveled. It's been really fun to watch."
“We're hungry for more, me especially," Gonsioroski said. "Obviously, Madison (O'Connor) is an amazing basketball player, but she's just as good of a volleyball player. We have these insane athletes we can carry from the basketball floor to the volleyball floor."
Baker features one of the more versatile teams in Class B, but Gonsioroski’s dominant presence will be critical for the Spartans to find themselves inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman in November.
