2008 Woodie Awards
Experienced Seawolf team set for volleyball season
Strong recruits follow returning players
Hannah Guillaume - The Northern Light
- Page 1 of 1
| |
|
This season the majority of the Seawolf volleyball team knows what to expect when they play. They're counting on this knowledge, the benchwarmers and new recruits to help them win.
"We do have a much larger group this year," said second season head coach Michelle Earl. "The big thing is we have a lot of depth for our positions. Our players are very talented in more than one skill."
Fourteen women, six who joined during the offseason, make up the 2006 volleyball team. In 2005 the Seawolves approached the net with 11 players on the roster, with just three having Seawolf experience.
Heather Lyons, a returning sophomore and outside hitter who ranked 12th in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for 2005, said now that the eight returning women know Earl's expectations, they can play a stronger game.
"Last year it was, you know, kind of trying to figure out what we were going to do. Like, if we messed up we would run. So, now we've got that figured out, and we're just going to pull the newbies along with us," Lyons said.
To get the team ready to win, Lyons said the team needs to focus on communicating, going for every ball and staying positive.
"That's what I'm going to work on within myself too," Lyons said. "Last year we didn't have a very high success rate, because we didn't push through all the way to the end. Like middle of the games we'd just kind of slow down. This year we are going to push through every match."
The Seawolves finished the 2005 season 7-19 overall. The team's effort to turn things around for 2006 goes into practice at the St. Mary's Invitational in San Antonio, Texas Aug. 26-27.
Pasadeanna Aukusitino, an outside hitter, joins the team after finishing her senior year at Service High School with All-Cook Inlet Conference honors.
She said that although she doesn't know how the teams will play in the Texas invitational, she is sure the Seawolves will get it together in time with Earl's coaching.
In the meantime, Aukusitino is living with three other freshman recruits - Samantha Calderwood, Tehane Kahalehau and Meghan Koizumi - in the freshman dormitory in student housing.
"I'm really glad this (UAA) is home. I wanted to start my first year off well and get the feel of college," Aukusitino said. "I know half the girls. So, that is really good, and I'm really comfortable."
Koizumi, a setter from Waimanalo, Hawaii, said part of her decision to join the Seawolves was due to the warm welcome she received from Earl and returning members of the team.
She earned first-team all-conference honors in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Eastern Division prior to her arrival at UAA.
Despite her proven success, Koizumi said she is slightly nervous about her first year of playing for a Division II NCAA volleyball team.
"It's new and there is no returning setter. That's nerve-wracking for me," she said, "but I'm really excited, because these girls are really good and really nice."
Koizumi said she feels ready for the first Seawolf home game, which is against Briar Cliff University at the 13th annual Extended Day Deluxe Invitational tournament starting Aug. 31.
"It should be the same as every game. You've just got to play hard every time," Koizumi said. "It shouldn't be different. You've got to aim high for everything."
Returning 6-foot-1 middle blocker Chelsey Jones (formerly Glines), a senior from Roosevelt, Utah, said the upcoming games will show that the Seawolves have the heart and hustle it takes to win.
"This year as a team we have better chemistry. We have more players," Jones said. "We have more help. The bench players are going to be the moral support, and they're going to boost us up too."
The positive chemistry and sisterhood developing early on in the team's season is amazing and crucially important for the Seawolves' success, Jones said. "We'll show no fear."