Guilford Women’s Volleyball opened the 2006 season with a few new faces.
The Quakers hired two new coaches in 2006; Emily Hayes stepped in as the fourth head coach in Guilford volleyball history. Assistant coach Jason Daniels began his first collegiate coaching position this season.
Hayes played her college volleyball at Elon University where she was a four year letter winner and earned All-Southern Conference honors as a senior. She was the first player to earn such honors at Elon.
“The new coach is awesome (Hayes), she’s already improved our team in so many aspects” said Sophomore Kaci Loeffler.
When asked what she thought of the team so far Hayes responded, “We’ve got a good group of girls with heart and desire to have a strong volleyball program again. They’re working really hard for me.”
The team is young, having only two juniors but Hayes said, “We’re a young team, and there’s some lack of experience but they are very willing to change for the better.”
Returning this season is 2005 letter winner, Junior Jenny Connor. Junior Katie Spina enters her first season on the volleyball court after playing her first two years on the basketball team.
The team will also return 6 letter winning sophomores from last season including Jennifer Treiber, Jessica Smith, Meagan Tucker, Taylor Brown, and Captains Becca Jones and Kaci Loeffler.
New to the team are first years Beth Hawks of Snow Camp N.C., and Cierra Briggs of Boiling Springs S.C.
Coach Hayes is bringing a new focus to the volleyball program, she said, “Last year the team focused on offense and hitting, now we’re going to focus on foot speed, athleticism and being in shape.”
“The strongest part of our game is our defense, we want to keep the ball off the floor on our side” said Hayes.
When asked about differences in the team from last year to this year Sophomore Becca Jones said, “The team is more excited, we have new girls and a fresh start. We’re much more supportive and gel better as a team.”
“This is a rebuilding year,” said Jones, “We have 2 first years, 2 new coaches and a chance to show that this program can be built into something.”
The team finished last season with an 8-18 record, and ranked 8th in the ODAC. This season the team is ranked 9th in the ODAC preseason. “9th is underestimating us, but we have to believe that” said Hayes.
“I’m disappointed in our rank, we were ranked 8th last year. It could be representative of this season because of the changes but it’s not representative of our talent” said Loeffler.
The team got off to a rocky start this season posting a 2-10 record so far and 0-2 in ODAC competition, but Loeffler said, “There are improvements being made that don’t show in our record yet.”
“Our goal is to finish .500, and we’re going to fight to get into that position” said Hayes.
“The support from the school at our last home match was great, if we can continue to get that kind of support it’ll be even better” said Hayes.
The team’s next match is at home versus Roanoke Tuesday, September 26, at 6:30.
Categories:
Volleyball team takes new approach
Joe Overby
•
September 22, 2006
0
More to Discover