by Marty Zier

Sports contributor

Chris Doherty returns for his third year as head coach of the Lady Vikings after 10-plus years coaching middle school players. Coming off a frustrating year with substantially more losses than wins, Doherty is excited with the character of his new group of energized players.

“It’s a totally different team this year, the dynamics have completely changed and the returning players and team as a whole are really pleased. The team wants to win and they absorb information quickly. We have a young team with only two seniors but a number of ninth graders joined us that are really talented. We now have an aerial attack which we didn’t have last year. I have already seen a huge difference in our passing, foot speed and ball skills.”

Doherty hasn’t paid much attention to the league but expects it will probably be similar this year with the exception of Friday Harbor after they graduated a large number of seniors last year, “Friday Harbor is bit of an unknown but will probably still be very good since they generally have a huge roster and LaConner is always tough.”

Fielding a decent number of players for the 2016/7 season unlike past skeleton teams, Doherty is looking forward to this year, “I am going to enjoy this year. As much as you hear it’s not about winning, it is. I will have more players to play and rest. I want it to be a competitive sport, not a PE class.”