34 | SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2026 ELK RIVER STAR NEWS
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Elk River, MN 55330.
Elk River volleyball’ s new coach preps for first season
Fall Sports Preview 2026
Tezra Larson begins her first season as Elk River’ s head coach this fall
ERIK NELSON Sports Reporter
The Elk River Elks graduated several key players from last season and will also have a new coach in 2026. Theresa Brummer left the program after 13 seasons as head coach. Her replacement, Tezra Larson, brings some familiar connections to the high school volleyball community.
Head coach: Tezra Larson takes over for Brummer, who coached the Elks from 2013-25 and guided the team to the 2019 MSHSL state tournament. Larson graduated in May 2026 from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul with a bachelor’ s degree in psychology.
Larson played at St. Thomas alongside former Rogers standout Anya Schmidt, whose father, Bo Schmidt, is the current Rogers head coach.
Larson, who recently married, said she is excited to begin her coaching career at Elk River.
“ The people in Elk River are awesome to work with,” Larson said.“ All the staff
FILE PHOTO
The Elk River girls volleyball team celebrated a point during a 2025 match last season. The Elks under new head coach Tezra Larson will look to advance to state for the first time in seven years.
and the players have high energy. They’ re sweet girls. I’ m blessed to be a part of a great program for my first year.”
2025 record: 8-21, 4-2 in the Northwest Suburban Conference B Division; lost to Sartell in the Section 8-4A quarterfinals.
Key returning players: Junior setter Siri Maciej finished second on the Elks in kills last season with 166. Senior middle blocker Shiaflyn Cooper finished the 2025 season with 64 kills.
Key departures: Audra Bitzan led the Elks with 209 kills in 2025. Libero Addison Hemmer led the team with 315 digs.
Important matches: Elk
River opens its 2026 season Thursday, Aug. 27, at home against Moorhead. The Elks’ first road match is Saturday, Aug. 29, against Bemidji at Bemidji High School. Key home matches include St. Michael-Albertville on Thursday, Sept. 17, and Coon Rapids on Thursday, Oct. 22, the final match of the regular season. Elk River will visit Rogers for a showdown with the Royals Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 6 p. m. All Elk River home matches begin at 6 p. m.
Coach Larson’ s expectations for 2026:“ Our goal is to go to state. Every day, we have to keep putting in effort. We want the end goal, but we have to stop thinking about that and focus on what we can do at practice every day and how we can get better instead of focusing on other people. It’ s just been focusing on our effort, our communication, and [ our ] culture of what we want our team to be like, how we want to act, what we want to be known for, and stuff like that.”
Recent World Cup motivates Elks boys soccer
ERIK NELSON Sports Reporter
Fall Sports Preview 2026
After a successful summer of training motivated by the success of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Elk River boys soccer team is ready to work hard, win and set the course for a bright future for the program. The Elks hope to be a physical team that will be difficult to play against during the regular season and postseason.
Head coaches: Timothy Loiselle and Chad Peterson
2025 record: 1-16-0,
0-12-0 in the NWSC Key returning players: Senior attacking midfielders Brody Colford and Will McNamara are the Elks’ 2026 captains. Sophomore Momo Kamara will play winger and striker and brings speed to the attack. Freshman defender Mason Ritthirak will anchor the Elks’ defense. Ritthirak is the younger brother of 2024 ERHS graduate and former Elks girls soccer midfielder Maliyah Ritthirak. Junior goalkeepers Chase Remick and Crosby Trushenski will compete for the starting job.
Key departures: The Elks graduated 13 seniors from the 2025 roster.
Important games: Monday, Aug. 31, vs. Totino-Grace; Wednesday, Sept. 2, at Andover; Saturday, Sept. 12, at Brainerd;
Saturday, Sept. 19, at Champlin Park; Monday, Sept. 28, vs. Centennial; Saturday, Oct. 3, at STMA; Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Blaine; Thursday, Oct. 8, at Rogers; Saturday, Oct. 10, vs. Buffalo
Coaches’ expectations for 2026:“ We’ ve got a young group,” Peterson said.“ Ninth- and 10th-graders will be getting big varsity minutes.
That being said, this young group is talented. This year is going to be a good year from what we’ ve seen so far. The future of the program is strong considering these kids are going to be in the program for the next three to four years. We’ re optimistic and excited.”