The Missouri Western volleyball team will have a new coach in charge this season. Although it’s not like they are not used to it, this will be the third coach in
three years.
New coach Tiffani Mastin will take over for interim coach Kyprian Harasymowycz. Last year the volleyball team posted a record of 16-15. Mastin hopes they can improve on that record.
“The biggest goal this season is to win 20 games and make the regional tournament,” Mastin said.
The team also returns many key players from last year’s team. Those players include Hallie Delagardelle, Audra Ridolfi, Shari Tompkins, Emiley DeVore and lone senior Alyssa Berg. Assistant coach Diana Zipp believes Alyssa does a great job helping out the younger players on the team. “Alyssa is a great leader and a great role model for our younger kids,” Zipp said.
To go along with the experienced players, Mastin brought in a solid recruiting class. The key new players to the team are Megan Voelz, Lauren Burbach and Megan Mosser. The mix of newcomers with the returning players has made for some inspiring competition. “The newcomers have been pushing the returners and the returners have been pushing the newcomers to play a high level of volleyball,” Mastin said.
The team was picked to finish eighth in the preseason MIAA coach’s poll. The team will look to gain respect this year and use that to build on for the future. The biggest challenge facing the team this year will be adjusting to a new coaching staff. Mastin thinks that there was an adjustment period, but now that they have accepted the coaching philosophy everything will be fine.
“It has been a process, but the team has adjusted to the change well,” Mastin said.
The volleyball team with the new coaching staff will be looking for big things this season. With the core players they have coming back this season could be a special one for the Missouri Western volleyball team.