After finishing 12-13 last season, Falls’ girls volleyball team this year faces dealing with the departure of five key players to graduation.

As a result, head coach Erin Shikowsky, who is entering her 10th year at the helm for the Broncos, said the team weaknesses going into the 2011 season, which begins Thursday with a home match against Mountain Iron-Buhl, include “inexperience at the varsity level and our actual physical strength.”

The list of departed players includes:

• Sydney Gordon, a captain who earned Iron Range and Arrowhead All-Conference honors as an outside hitter and was the team’s most valuable player.

• Mackenzie Raboin, another captain who earned Iron Range and Arrowhead All-Conference honors as an outside hitter and was the recipient of the team’s hustle award.

• Julia Santee, an Iron Range All-Conference honorable mention selection as an outside hitter.

• Katie Graves, an outside hitter named the team’s most improved player.

• Brooke Graves, an outside hitter named Miss Congeniality.

Among the top returning athletes, Shikowsky said they include junior Reva Renollet, a team captain who will be setting and hitting this year, and senior Kelsey Foss, another captain who will be setting and may take on a role as a defensive specialist.

Other returning players include junior defensive specialist Shawna Misner and three junior outside hitters, Sophie Fredrickson, Anah Schwartz and Sara Christianson.

“Our biggest strengths at this point in the season are our work ethic and our potential to develop into great volleyball players,” Shikowsky said.

She said the team goals for this season are to “work hard, improve our individual skills and achieve success as a team.”

Shikowsky said she is looking forward this season to “watching this team grow and learn as individuals and athletes, and watching them become one cohesive unit...a team that once again understands and will carry on the pride and tradition that goes along with being a Bronco athlete.”

She said the teams to watch out for on this year’s schedule include Greenway, Hibbing and Virginia.