Veteran leaders anchor squad

By Matt Gleaves

September 1, 2010 No Comments

As a program that has been looked upon as a rebuilding program, Western volleyball looks to change that into a consistent and winning team in 2010.

The Griffons return a strong team for the 2010 campaign. After losing only two seniors to graduation last season, Western looks to the upperclassmen to guide them this season. Among those upperclassmen, three key returning seniors in Kelli Sicner, Meghan Voelz and Lauren Burbach will especially be turned upon for leadership. Sicner was also the only member of the 2009 squad to receive postseason honors as she was All-MIAA Honorable Mention.

“I expect our seniors to be positive examples to our team by maintaining a positive lifestyle to benefit the team as a whole,” head coach Cory Frederick said. “If our seniors can set the mental attitude for the team in a positive way, then others will follow.”

Western is coming off of three consecutive losing seasons and according to Frederick, the hardest part about changing that is changing the team’s mentality.

“I want to see a more consistent mentality from practice to games. We have the physical talent, we just need to improve our mental focus and we’ll see drastic improvements,” Frederick said.

Western finished last season a disappointing 11-22 under, then first year head coach, Cory Frederick. This season, the team is more mature and more experienced and are hoping to show the signs of an experienced team.

“We don’t need to dominate teams at times, we just need to stay close and give ourselves a chance to win in every match. If we do this and maintain a positive mentality, we’ll come out on top more often than not,” Frederick said.

Even with all the returning upperclassmen, the Griffons will have to be able to blend in new recruits as well as some players that saw playing time their freshman and sophomore seasons. Alex Behnke, Hannah Zimmerman and Britny Pearl are three of the main underclassmen that the team will be relying on to give them valuable playing time this season.

“I think our biggest strength this season is that many players were receiving court time during their freshman and sophomore seasons, so they can hopefully build on that experience to make our team better,” Frederick said.

Overall, the 2010 squad is ready to erase the memories of last season’s disappointing finish by having a team mindset that the season will be a winning one.

“Our biggest strengths this year will be our team chemistry and our mental focus to accomplish the same goal,” senior Meghan Voelz said.

Another thing that will help the team accomplish this goal is that with all the new recruits as well as young players, there will be a more competitive environment in practice.

“I expect our new players to bring some needed intensity and desire to the squad,” Frederick said.