Experience, Learning Key as De La Hunt Takes Helm of Bemidji Girls’ Volleyball

LeeAnne De La Hunt was named the newest head coach at Bemidji High School, taking the helm of the girls’ volleyball program after the resignation of Alicia Kriens, who had led the Lumberjacks since 2018.

De La Hunt was an assistant coach last season for the Jacks’ varsity squad after having coached the ninth grade teams the past few years. But prior to coming to Bemidji, she had varsity head coaching experience for two years at Bagley High School and three years before that at Lake of the Woods.

The new leader of the Lumberjacks played D1 volleyball at Dayton and then coached various boys and girls club teams around her hometown of Chicago before moving to Minnesota.

“What I’m looking forward to most is learning,” De La Hunt told Lakeland News. “Getting to know the kids deeper, getting to just play around with different things. It’s going to be an interesting year because we’ve now entered the Central Lakes Conference, and that’s going to be some tough competition. So, ‘how can we mentally stay on top of things?'”

She continued, “It’ll just be a learning process, and change is hard for anybody. We’re going forward with no coaches right now. So, we’ll have to hire for all of those positions. And so it’s going to be some change and I hope everyone is okay with the change and sees that it’s not so bad.”

The Lumberjacks’ first game is in just 51 days, and that’s on Aug. 27 at Buffalo. Bemidji’s first home game is two days later on Saturday, Aug. 29 against Elk River.