Sorry everyone for not keeping you updated for the final part of the season. It got extremely hectic with our schedule at the end of the season with 3 matches per week. It was a season that was full of peaks and valleys, with some great set wins over some top teams in the conference and some unfortunate inconsistencies in our level of play against teams that we were evenly matched. It was most certainly clear that we are still in our rebuilding phase and right near the end of the "transition" into the new style of play. We have a majority of the pieces to put ourselves in the hunt within the GPAC, we still need to find the complete fiery competitive team-first attitude from all of the pieces to get us to our goals.
It is going to be a great progressive off-season for us coming up. We have hired a strength and conditioning coach to help bring our athletic talents to another level. We will also be putting great focus on certain skill developments for each athlete to get each individual to the next level of playing ability. We are going to have a great focus on the ability to read defensive play as well as get our attackers to be able to make different types of shots to different areas of the court. It is going to be a fun off-season and everyone is looking forward to the great progression ahead.
- Coach V
November 23, 2009
September 28, 2009
Week #5 - Recovery and Team Commitment
So the illness bug has come around and hit us pretty hard the past week. We were going to through practices the past week with 8-10 people out for every practice. It was one of those moments as a coach where it is certainly the time to have your adaptability skills at their best. At the start of the we all felt great about some good performances from the weekend in Sioux City. But something was a little off on Monday as I felt a lot of our players kind of dragging and very low with energy. Then it started 1 by 1 the information kept coming me, this 2 has this illness, this 2 have this, and these 3 possibly have this. It was like it never ended, well it seemed like it because Jayna kept pretending to be sick with her fake cough (keep practicing, Neba. lol).
So Monday we tried to prepare for Dordt with what we had. We still felt pretty good about what we could do in that match. The very next day we got word that Carina was sick with something that had to hold her out for the match and not let her travel. So immediately I had to let Kalissa and Rosebud know that they would have to fill in and that our gameplan has now been switched to a 6-2 setup and our lineup would be very different than we practiced. It was hectic leading up to our arrival to Dordt. We had some people playing in the JV match that hadn't played before and made a true sacrifice and commitment to the team to get it done (Thank you Leah for stepping up all week). The JV match was a little rough as Dordt took the match fairly easily as our serve receive passing just wasn't up to par all match.
The varsity match was probably a little nerve racking for everyone as we weren't exactly sure how we would respond to the adversity we were facing with a limited roster. My only concern of the night came when we dropped 4 of the first 5 points of the match with no intensity, I had to quickly call a timeout and remedy the situation. We then came back to to the game and go point for point the rest of game. The first game even had probably one of the best rallies that any of us had been a part of playing or coaching. It lasted about a minute and included:
- First attack saved by player with over the shoulder swing with back to net and at sharp angle
- Hard swing dug and ball saved from 25ft away from court off of a light fixture and sent over as other team was celebrating
- Celebrating team saves ball and gets another attack
- Play proceeds to have 2 diving plays to the right back corner from both team's middle back players
- A sideline diving save by a libero after one of the diving plays in the right back is sent over
- A double block that is covered and continued play
- Overpass kill to finish play
I am putting this rally in a Play of the Week contest sponsored by the AVCA. Voting will begin I think on Thursday so please check out http://www.avca.org/ to vote for our play if it makes the final cut. I darn well better since in comparison to the plays from last week, this one blows all of them out of the water.
Ok, getting back to the actual playing. The Dordt match went very well. We played great under the circumstances and handled everything Dordt threw at us. We just gave away one 4-5 point run too many in all 3 games which ended up being the difference in each game. The team proved again that they are worthy of being put in to a higher category than anyone else puts them and that they just need to find a level of consistency with intensity and decision making that keeps them at the top of their game all match long. It was great to see. Kalissa and Bud deserve a lot of kudos for stepping in with basically same day notice to handle a difficult setting job against a top team in the conference.
We ended up deciding that this was going to be the week of recovery. We felt fortunate that we only had one match on Friday and nothing else the rest of the weekend. We had the confident feeling that with the one match on Friday being against Mt. Marty and that we had 2 days to prepare we could get back to healthy and not over exert ourselves as program. Our recovery was slow and we didn't get back to full strength by Friday. We came out a little flat agianst Mt. Marty with a lot of errors from our JV team in their match which ended up costing them a 3 game loss. However, Polly did play a good MH position (which she hasn't done since HS) while Rosebud and Kalissa did an admirable job of trying to put our hitters into good situations to swing at a smaller Mt. Marty block.
Carina was cleared to play but we needed to limit her involvement. Leah again stepped up to the plate and started at MH for us in place of a sick Kacie. The start of the varsity match was very nerve racking as we came out flat and committed a lot of hitting and serving errors in the first game which gave Mt. Marty half of there points for the game. We found a way to win the first game which then led into a completely dominating performance in game 2 which then allowed us to use our bench more and save energy of our sick players. It was a great team effort.
Over the week we put together two very good TEAM performances and had some people in some different setups for our lineup. The sacrifice and commitment level was very apparent last week from everyone. We will need again for the upcoming week as we are still within our recovery phase. We play at Dakota State on Tuesday and then host Morningside for our Homecoming match on Friday and then Briar Cliff on Saturday for our DIG PINK match. To support the DIG PINK effort please follow the volleyball website http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/volleyball/index.htm and click on the Dig Pink logo to get to the place where you can donate to the cause.
- Coach V
So Monday we tried to prepare for Dordt with what we had. We still felt pretty good about what we could do in that match. The very next day we got word that Carina was sick with something that had to hold her out for the match and not let her travel. So immediately I had to let Kalissa and Rosebud know that they would have to fill in and that our gameplan has now been switched to a 6-2 setup and our lineup would be very different than we practiced. It was hectic leading up to our arrival to Dordt. We had some people playing in the JV match that hadn't played before and made a true sacrifice and commitment to the team to get it done (Thank you Leah for stepping up all week). The JV match was a little rough as Dordt took the match fairly easily as our serve receive passing just wasn't up to par all match.
The varsity match was probably a little nerve racking for everyone as we weren't exactly sure how we would respond to the adversity we were facing with a limited roster. My only concern of the night came when we dropped 4 of the first 5 points of the match with no intensity, I had to quickly call a timeout and remedy the situation. We then came back to to the game and go point for point the rest of game. The first game even had probably one of the best rallies that any of us had been a part of playing or coaching. It lasted about a minute and included:
- First attack saved by player with over the shoulder swing with back to net and at sharp angle
- Hard swing dug and ball saved from 25ft away from court off of a light fixture and sent over as other team was celebrating
- Celebrating team saves ball and gets another attack
- Play proceeds to have 2 diving plays to the right back corner from both team's middle back players
- A sideline diving save by a libero after one of the diving plays in the right back is sent over
- A double block that is covered and continued play
- Overpass kill to finish play
I am putting this rally in a Play of the Week contest sponsored by the AVCA. Voting will begin I think on Thursday so please check out http://www.avca.org/ to vote for our play if it makes the final cut. I darn well better since in comparison to the plays from last week, this one blows all of them out of the water.
Ok, getting back to the actual playing. The Dordt match went very well. We played great under the circumstances and handled everything Dordt threw at us. We just gave away one 4-5 point run too many in all 3 games which ended up being the difference in each game. The team proved again that they are worthy of being put in to a higher category than anyone else puts them and that they just need to find a level of consistency with intensity and decision making that keeps them at the top of their game all match long. It was great to see. Kalissa and Bud deserve a lot of kudos for stepping in with basically same day notice to handle a difficult setting job against a top team in the conference.
We ended up deciding that this was going to be the week of recovery. We felt fortunate that we only had one match on Friday and nothing else the rest of the weekend. We had the confident feeling that with the one match on Friday being against Mt. Marty and that we had 2 days to prepare we could get back to healthy and not over exert ourselves as program. Our recovery was slow and we didn't get back to full strength by Friday. We came out a little flat agianst Mt. Marty with a lot of errors from our JV team in their match which ended up costing them a 3 game loss. However, Polly did play a good MH position (which she hasn't done since HS) while Rosebud and Kalissa did an admirable job of trying to put our hitters into good situations to swing at a smaller Mt. Marty block.
Carina was cleared to play but we needed to limit her involvement. Leah again stepped up to the plate and started at MH for us in place of a sick Kacie. The start of the varsity match was very nerve racking as we came out flat and committed a lot of hitting and serving errors in the first game which gave Mt. Marty half of there points for the game. We found a way to win the first game which then led into a completely dominating performance in game 2 which then allowed us to use our bench more and save energy of our sick players. It was a great team effort.
Over the week we put together two very good TEAM performances and had some people in some different setups for our lineup. The sacrifice and commitment level was very apparent last week from everyone. We will need again for the upcoming week as we are still within our recovery phase. We play at Dakota State on Tuesday and then host Morningside for our Homecoming match on Friday and then Briar Cliff on Saturday for our DIG PINK match. To support the DIG PINK effort please follow the volleyball website http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/volleyball/index.htm and click on the Dig Pink logo to get to the place where you can donate to the cause.
- Coach V
September 21, 2009
Week #4 - A Refocus on Performance
Hello everyone,
This was one crazy week, with a complete collapse in our conference match with Sioux Falls on Wednesday and then taking a set away from Morningside on Friday, it is still plain to see that we are still searching for that consistent performance.
The week didn't start off very well as we approached the match on Wednesday vs. Sioux Falls as a rivalry match. The entire 2 practices leading up to it we talked about bringing every bit of energy to the match and stay focused. Unfortunately we didn't get either one throughout the match and very simply got embarrassed on our home court. After that match we had a lot of things to figure out and it seemed as some doubt may have started to creep in to the minds of the team. We began to squash that mentality right away with our focus on our responsibilities and performances on the court and not worry so much on the end result.
It seemed to pay off as we entered the weekend tournament at Morningside College on Friday with our first match being against #10 in the nation Morningside. I am not going to lie I was very nervous about this match and how the team would respond after the debacle on Wednesday. The first set of the match however, was not so great as we came out flat and seemed uninspired and again quiet on the floor and went on to lose the game 25-11. For the second set some lineup changes were made and there was an instant lift in morale on the court as went on to just dominate the game from the start to a 25-16 win. We continued to play very well the last two games of the match and the game scores don't reflect the true level of the match due to us not winning the long rallies that happened in those games and some very questionable referee calls that ended a lot of long rallies in Morningside's favor (it had to be at least 5 -7 calls per game that were questionable and went against us) but no excuses because we still made our fair share of mistakes and had quite a few hitting errors that really hurts you when you play a top ranked team. We felt good about ourselves knowing that we do have it in us to play like a Top 25 team, we just need to find the consistency in our game to extend for 3 games and not just 1.
Our 2nd match on Friday was against York College. Who we played 3 times last year and won 3-0 each time. This year was no different story as we put out one of our best team hitting performances on the year with a .340 percentage. All 15 players who travelled got into this match and made very good contributions to the great PERFORMANCE. Kalissa Wade came off the bench to add 5 assists and a service ace. Amanda Aman provided 3 kills and Cassie Brinker added 2 digs in her time on the court. We looked to continue the momentum from this match to the next morning as we looked to play Missouri Valley in our last pool play match.
We knew coming into our morning match that it was going to be a well fought match as we saw Missouri Valley the night before take Morningside to 4 games and competed with them in almost all of the games. We came in knowing that we would have to defend the middle attack extremely well (something we had not done well the entire season leading up to this match). Our focus again was just on our performance and taking care of individual responsibilities. Both teams came out ready and full of energy for the match as the points just kept trading back and forth up until we finally put our clamp on the first game with a good 4 point run to finish off the 1st game for a 25-19 win. The 2nd game saw MV take the game with a 22-25 win with a better defensive performance and them putting down a few more balls in the middle. We again refocused on defending the middle attack and we pushed to win the next two games to win the match. We got a fantastic attacking performance as a team with a .285 percentage and defensive effort that held MV to only a .085 hitting percentage. This was a complete offensive and defensive match for us. Jen Miner lead the way with 19 kills and hit .548 and 12 digs, followed by Ashley Kley with 14 kills and a .285 percentage with 14 digs. Kacie Sanderson and Jayna Morrill had quality matches as they had 5 and 8 kills and each took part in at least 3 blocks. We got the first double digit dig match out of Carina Fesenmaier with 11 digs as she also totaled 45 assists in the match. Defensively Polly Gill and Brooke Warne were fantastic with 10 digs a piece.
Once pool play was over we found out that we were going to be playing Hastings in the 3rd place match. I liked our match-up heading into this game knowing that they were much taller than us on the right side and in the middle but they play a majority of freshmen and sophomores. I felt that their lack of quality serve receive would put them in trouble and have their young players have to make big plays in tight situations. We served very well and had them out of system quite a bit but our defense against their hitters was not overly aggressive as we only forced their hitters into 9 total errors and we committed 24 hitting errors. It was the complete difference in the match, they kept plays alive and we gave away points. It was surprising after the quality offensive decisions we had had the previous 2 matches to drop back down under a .100 hitting percentage. Yes Hastings was a higher quality team than the other two but our focus on performance was better in the other matches. We're learning and still finding that comfort level with each other.
All in all it was a very good weekend for us after the shocking disappointment from Wednesday. We are truly learning more and more about ourselves everyday and continuing to get that everyday improvement. I want to congratulate Ashley Kley for making the All-Tournament Team which was voted on by the other coaches in the tournament.
We have a short week next week as we face Dordt on Tuesday and Mt. Marty on Friday. With a true focus on Performance and never say die attitude we could very well go 2-0 for the week and put ourselves back into a good place with the conference standings.
Get Better Every Day
--Coach V
This was one crazy week, with a complete collapse in our conference match with Sioux Falls on Wednesday and then taking a set away from Morningside on Friday, it is still plain to see that we are still searching for that consistent performance.
The week didn't start off very well as we approached the match on Wednesday vs. Sioux Falls as a rivalry match. The entire 2 practices leading up to it we talked about bringing every bit of energy to the match and stay focused. Unfortunately we didn't get either one throughout the match and very simply got embarrassed on our home court. After that match we had a lot of things to figure out and it seemed as some doubt may have started to creep in to the minds of the team. We began to squash that mentality right away with our focus on our responsibilities and performances on the court and not worry so much on the end result.
It seemed to pay off as we entered the weekend tournament at Morningside College on Friday with our first match being against #10 in the nation Morningside. I am not going to lie I was very nervous about this match and how the team would respond after the debacle on Wednesday. The first set of the match however, was not so great as we came out flat and seemed uninspired and again quiet on the floor and went on to lose the game 25-11. For the second set some lineup changes were made and there was an instant lift in morale on the court as went on to just dominate the game from the start to a 25-16 win. We continued to play very well the last two games of the match and the game scores don't reflect the true level of the match due to us not winning the long rallies that happened in those games and some very questionable referee calls that ended a lot of long rallies in Morningside's favor (it had to be at least 5 -7 calls per game that were questionable and went against us) but no excuses because we still made our fair share of mistakes and had quite a few hitting errors that really hurts you when you play a top ranked team. We felt good about ourselves knowing that we do have it in us to play like a Top 25 team, we just need to find the consistency in our game to extend for 3 games and not just 1.
Our 2nd match on Friday was against York College. Who we played 3 times last year and won 3-0 each time. This year was no different story as we put out one of our best team hitting performances on the year with a .340 percentage. All 15 players who travelled got into this match and made very good contributions to the great PERFORMANCE. Kalissa Wade came off the bench to add 5 assists and a service ace. Amanda Aman provided 3 kills and Cassie Brinker added 2 digs in her time on the court. We looked to continue the momentum from this match to the next morning as we looked to play Missouri Valley in our last pool play match.
We knew coming into our morning match that it was going to be a well fought match as we saw Missouri Valley the night before take Morningside to 4 games and competed with them in almost all of the games. We came in knowing that we would have to defend the middle attack extremely well (something we had not done well the entire season leading up to this match). Our focus again was just on our performance and taking care of individual responsibilities. Both teams came out ready and full of energy for the match as the points just kept trading back and forth up until we finally put our clamp on the first game with a good 4 point run to finish off the 1st game for a 25-19 win. The 2nd game saw MV take the game with a 22-25 win with a better defensive performance and them putting down a few more balls in the middle. We again refocused on defending the middle attack and we pushed to win the next two games to win the match. We got a fantastic attacking performance as a team with a .285 percentage and defensive effort that held MV to only a .085 hitting percentage. This was a complete offensive and defensive match for us. Jen Miner lead the way with 19 kills and hit .548 and 12 digs, followed by Ashley Kley with 14 kills and a .285 percentage with 14 digs. Kacie Sanderson and Jayna Morrill had quality matches as they had 5 and 8 kills and each took part in at least 3 blocks. We got the first double digit dig match out of Carina Fesenmaier with 11 digs as she also totaled 45 assists in the match. Defensively Polly Gill and Brooke Warne were fantastic with 10 digs a piece.
Once pool play was over we found out that we were going to be playing Hastings in the 3rd place match. I liked our match-up heading into this game knowing that they were much taller than us on the right side and in the middle but they play a majority of freshmen and sophomores. I felt that their lack of quality serve receive would put them in trouble and have their young players have to make big plays in tight situations. We served very well and had them out of system quite a bit but our defense against their hitters was not overly aggressive as we only forced their hitters into 9 total errors and we committed 24 hitting errors. It was the complete difference in the match, they kept plays alive and we gave away points. It was surprising after the quality offensive decisions we had had the previous 2 matches to drop back down under a .100 hitting percentage. Yes Hastings was a higher quality team than the other two but our focus on performance was better in the other matches. We're learning and still finding that comfort level with each other.
All in all it was a very good weekend for us after the shocking disappointment from Wednesday. We are truly learning more and more about ourselves everyday and continuing to get that everyday improvement. I want to congratulate Ashley Kley for making the All-Tournament Team which was voted on by the other coaches in the tournament.
We have a short week next week as we face Dordt on Tuesday and Mt. Marty on Friday. With a true focus on Performance and never say die attitude we could very well go 2-0 for the week and put ourselves back into a good place with the conference standings.
Get Better Every Day
--Coach V
September 14, 2009
Week #3 - The Roller Coaster Week
It was a roller coaster week for us this past week. We had some very positive moments and some negative ones as well. The trials and tribulations of a program in transition.
We started off with a very good showing against #5 in the nation, Northwestern. We competed very well and held a few leads in all 3 games of the match. We just couldn't hold off Northwestern's fire power in the end. They are loaded with talent at every position. Game 1 and game 2 were in our grasps and we tightened up just a little at the end of each game to let Northwestern take the late momentum of each game. We forced them into some attacking situations they weren't comfortable with at first and got them to commit a few errors early in every set. We will continue to learn how to close out games against high caliber teams here in the near future.
The weekend took us on the road to North Dakota. We opened the weekend off with Valley City State. If you remember we went 5 games with them the first weekend of the season as we were down 2-0 and came back to win the match. This time we were on their turf and in some hostile confines. Their gym was a great atmosphere, it was small, very old-school with brick walls all around us, and extremely loud. It was so fun. We went 5 the first time so why not 5 a second time. Yes we did, another 5 gamer that fortunately ended with another DWU win. It was one heck of a match. Both teams came to play offensively as both hit over .200 for the match. It was a match of will power as both teams kept trading big play after big play. VCSU served extremely aggressive and kept our serve receive out of whack all match. Luckily Ashley Kley, Jen Miner, and Polly Gill were up to the challenge of attacking against a double block all night and all had great success as all 3 were in double digit kills for the night. These three plus Amye Brown were also in double digit digs for the night. Ashley led the way with 24 digs. What a great accomplishment to have 3 players get double-doubles in the same match. Congrats ladies.
After riding the wonderful highs of competing well against Northwestern and winning another thrilling match in 5 against Valley City. We headed to Mayville State on Saturday to try and start another winning streak to give us momentum into our next conference match. However, it was not in cards for us as Mayville State came in with a complete revenge factor from the opening match of the year loss we gave them in the opening weekend. MSU came out with tons of energy and a game plan that we couldn't find enough adjustments for to stop. With our execution of our game plan being on the poor end we were in a scramble mode all day and just never looked comfortable on the court. With that said we still were in every game and many opportunities to put our strangle hold on the matches but that one extra play a team needs to fully gain momentum we just couldn't make. We didn't defend well enough to win the matches. It is not all for lost though, we still had some pretty good attacking numbers and our serve receive passing was much better than it was on Friday night. It was a great learning experience for the team this weekend and we plan to move ahead with some great experiences.
It became one of those reality check weekends for us. We faced two teams we had faced earlier and beat, both of those teams came out very hungry to revenge their losses and showed us that we still have to step up our performance from the previous matches to get the next win. It is also very clear that we are as successful as our defense. In all of our match losses so far this season we struggled with preventing our opponent from high hitting percentages. Defense is a part of our signature style of play, we have slightly gotten away from that with the success we have had offensively. It is time to reset our systems and get back to fundamentals of great TEAM DEFENSE.
I am still very happy and confident with this group of talented women. We still have very positive things going on and great team chemistry. I told the team that we will go through these growing pains during the first part of the season as we try to mesh the old with the new. We don't need to be playing at our peak performance level just yet. We want to save it for that stretch run and the end of conference play heading into the conference tournament. We will make some noise and give headaches to a lot of top GPAC teams. WE BELIEVE IN US!
--Coach V
We started off with a very good showing against #5 in the nation, Northwestern. We competed very well and held a few leads in all 3 games of the match. We just couldn't hold off Northwestern's fire power in the end. They are loaded with talent at every position. Game 1 and game 2 were in our grasps and we tightened up just a little at the end of each game to let Northwestern take the late momentum of each game. We forced them into some attacking situations they weren't comfortable with at first and got them to commit a few errors early in every set. We will continue to learn how to close out games against high caliber teams here in the near future.
The weekend took us on the road to North Dakota. We opened the weekend off with Valley City State. If you remember we went 5 games with them the first weekend of the season as we were down 2-0 and came back to win the match. This time we were on their turf and in some hostile confines. Their gym was a great atmosphere, it was small, very old-school with brick walls all around us, and extremely loud. It was so fun. We went 5 the first time so why not 5 a second time. Yes we did, another 5 gamer that fortunately ended with another DWU win. It was one heck of a match. Both teams came to play offensively as both hit over .200 for the match. It was a match of will power as both teams kept trading big play after big play. VCSU served extremely aggressive and kept our serve receive out of whack all match. Luckily Ashley Kley, Jen Miner, and Polly Gill were up to the challenge of attacking against a double block all night and all had great success as all 3 were in double digit kills for the night. These three plus Amye Brown were also in double digit digs for the night. Ashley led the way with 24 digs. What a great accomplishment to have 3 players get double-doubles in the same match. Congrats ladies.
After riding the wonderful highs of competing well against Northwestern and winning another thrilling match in 5 against Valley City. We headed to Mayville State on Saturday to try and start another winning streak to give us momentum into our next conference match. However, it was not in cards for us as Mayville State came in with a complete revenge factor from the opening match of the year loss we gave them in the opening weekend. MSU came out with tons of energy and a game plan that we couldn't find enough adjustments for to stop. With our execution of our game plan being on the poor end we were in a scramble mode all day and just never looked comfortable on the court. With that said we still were in every game and many opportunities to put our strangle hold on the matches but that one extra play a team needs to fully gain momentum we just couldn't make. We didn't defend well enough to win the matches. It is not all for lost though, we still had some pretty good attacking numbers and our serve receive passing was much better than it was on Friday night. It was a great learning experience for the team this weekend and we plan to move ahead with some great experiences.
It became one of those reality check weekends for us. We faced two teams we had faced earlier and beat, both of those teams came out very hungry to revenge their losses and showed us that we still have to step up our performance from the previous matches to get the next win. It is also very clear that we are as successful as our defense. In all of our match losses so far this season we struggled with preventing our opponent from high hitting percentages. Defense is a part of our signature style of play, we have slightly gotten away from that with the success we have had offensively. It is time to reset our systems and get back to fundamentals of great TEAM DEFENSE.
I am still very happy and confident with this group of talented women. We still have very positive things going on and great team chemistry. I told the team that we will go through these growing pains during the first part of the season as we try to mesh the old with the new. We don't need to be playing at our peak performance level just yet. We want to save it for that stretch run and the end of conference play heading into the conference tournament. We will make some noise and give headaches to a lot of top GPAC teams. WE BELIEVE IN US!
--Coach V
September 7, 2009
Week #2 Update - Getting Better Every Day
Hello All,
Another week in the books and another solid showing for DWU Volleyball. We started the first week of September off by traveling to Aberdeen, SD for a match. Our JV team played against North Dakota State College of Science for their first match of the year prior to the Varsity team playing against Presentation College. The JV match was a little shaky but we still had some great play out of Kalissa Wade who set a 5-1 offense and delivered some great sets to our hitters. Our hitters had a small case of the yips and allowed NDSCS to get out to early leads in the 3 games. Overall it was not a bad showing for the first match of the year and we still expect great things for this group throughout the season.
The Varsity team came out a little slow against Presentation and trailed most of the first game and then decided to turn it on to take the first game 28-26 (ladies please stop trying to give me more grey hairs I already have plenty). We then went on to control the rest of the match rather easily as we cruised to the 3-0 win. It was a good match to set us up for the upcoming home tournament.
On Friday, the 4th we opened up the home tournament with a match against SD School of Mines. It started off as a relatively easy match with a first game win of 25-12 but then turned into a dogfight as we traded the next 3 games with all of them being 2 point games wins for both teams. We had a fight on our hands from a team that was young and taking every opportunity to put their mark on the match. We eventually made a great run at the beginning of the 5th game that eventually led to 15-10 win to seal the match. I think we put a lot of effort into that match and even though we did get 2 matches off before we played again we looked physically and mentally drained as we started our second match of the day against Dickinson State dropping the 1st game 11-25 and not knowing what had hit us. We battled extremely hard the next two games but offensively never got on track as the DSU block kept our LS attack in check all night and finished the last 2 games losing 23-25. It was both a positive and negative feeling after that match knowing that we played so poorly offensively yet still had chances to win 2 games and possibly change the outcome of the match. We talked about just coming in the next day knowing it was a new day.
The next day started off with an early match against Montana Western, we played exceptional during the match with relatively easy wins in the first 2 games and then UMW played well in the third to push us to win 25-23. We then had a very tough match against Rocky Mountain College, a team that is receiving votes for the Top 25. We came out very well and just couldn't finish the 1st game as strong as we started and lost 25-20. The 2nd game was similar where RMC had 1 more 4-5 point run than we did and finished us off 25-18. The 3rd game was difficult for us as we had put a lot of energy in the previous 2 games and fell rather easily to finish the match.
It was a good weekend for us and a weekend that we learned a lot about where we are as a team. We can be a very strong defensive team that carries to battle it out in games. Offensively we are getting better and more balanced with each practice and match. It will continue to be a fun year.
We head into the upcoming week with a great challenge and opportunity. We play Northwestern on Wednesday in Mitchell. Northwestern is #5 in the Nation and always a big match when they come to campus. We come in to the match very confident in our abilities and understand that it will have to be a true team match to accomplish our goals for the match. SHOCK & AWE that is what we are looking to do.
-Coach V
Another week in the books and another solid showing for DWU Volleyball. We started the first week of September off by traveling to Aberdeen, SD for a match. Our JV team played against North Dakota State College of Science for their first match of the year prior to the Varsity team playing against Presentation College. The JV match was a little shaky but we still had some great play out of Kalissa Wade who set a 5-1 offense and delivered some great sets to our hitters. Our hitters had a small case of the yips and allowed NDSCS to get out to early leads in the 3 games. Overall it was not a bad showing for the first match of the year and we still expect great things for this group throughout the season.
The Varsity team came out a little slow against Presentation and trailed most of the first game and then decided to turn it on to take the first game 28-26 (ladies please stop trying to give me more grey hairs I already have plenty). We then went on to control the rest of the match rather easily as we cruised to the 3-0 win. It was a good match to set us up for the upcoming home tournament.
On Friday, the 4th we opened up the home tournament with a match against SD School of Mines. It started off as a relatively easy match with a first game win of 25-12 but then turned into a dogfight as we traded the next 3 games with all of them being 2 point games wins for both teams. We had a fight on our hands from a team that was young and taking every opportunity to put their mark on the match. We eventually made a great run at the beginning of the 5th game that eventually led to 15-10 win to seal the match. I think we put a lot of effort into that match and even though we did get 2 matches off before we played again we looked physically and mentally drained as we started our second match of the day against Dickinson State dropping the 1st game 11-25 and not knowing what had hit us. We battled extremely hard the next two games but offensively never got on track as the DSU block kept our LS attack in check all night and finished the last 2 games losing 23-25. It was both a positive and negative feeling after that match knowing that we played so poorly offensively yet still had chances to win 2 games and possibly change the outcome of the match. We talked about just coming in the next day knowing it was a new day.
The next day started off with an early match against Montana Western, we played exceptional during the match with relatively easy wins in the first 2 games and then UMW played well in the third to push us to win 25-23. We then had a very tough match against Rocky Mountain College, a team that is receiving votes for the Top 25. We came out very well and just couldn't finish the 1st game as strong as we started and lost 25-20. The 2nd game was similar where RMC had 1 more 4-5 point run than we did and finished us off 25-18. The 3rd game was difficult for us as we had put a lot of energy in the previous 2 games and fell rather easily to finish the match.
It was a good weekend for us and a weekend that we learned a lot about where we are as a team. We can be a very strong defensive team that carries to battle it out in games. Offensively we are getting better and more balanced with each practice and match. It will continue to be a fun year.
We head into the upcoming week with a great challenge and opportunity. We play Northwestern on Wednesday in Mitchell. Northwestern is #5 in the Nation and always a big match when they come to campus. We come in to the match very confident in our abilities and understand that it will have to be a true team match to accomplish our goals for the match. SHOCK & AWE that is what we are looking to do.
-Coach V
September 1, 2009
Week #1 Update - Great Start
The first weekend has come and gone and what a great start for the program. We travelled down to Orange City, IA to Northwestern College for a tournament this past weekend. We came out of it 3-1 and feeling very good about what we accomplished and aware of the areas that we need to improve.
We found out that we are a team that will not quit until the last whistle of the match. We won our first 3 matches of the tournament in either 4 or 5 games. Our 1st match was against Mayville State, we came out very quick and explosive and put Mayville in a complete reactive mode to our style. We jumped out to a quick 2-0 game lead and then Mayville made a little push to take the 3rd game before we ended up taking the 4th game. Our second match against Valley City State was not the same as the first match, we were the ones that were not ready to play at first as we dropped the first two games of the match. We found our stride in the 3rd game with a solid showing but then came out in the 4th game a little flat and faced a 23-18 deficit. We went on to be the cardiac kids and pulled out a 27-25 game win to force a 5th game. The 5th game started out like all the rest, we were flat again, it was 8-4 at the change of side and I think it even got to a 11-5 deficit before we stormed back to battle it out for a 18-16 5th game win to clinch the match. We started the match at 8:30 and didn't get out of the gym until close to 11pm. It was one great 1st match day of the season.
The second day had some similar feeling to the first day, our first match was against Waldorf and we jumped out quick in both of the first 2 games to and took care of business. We lacked just a little bit of concentration in the 3rd and let that one get away from us before we clinched the match in the 4th game with another solid performance. Our second match of Saturday had playing against a very talented defensive team in Baker, They had us searching for ways to create offense. We started off very slow but found a way in the first game to get us in fight before we dropped it 23-25, the 2nd game was not one we want to mention, and the third we started off very slow again but found a way to battle it out again before we dropped it 24-26. In one way it was disheartening to see that we played rather poorly but exciting at the same time to know that even when we play below our true level that we can find ways to possibly pull out some wins with a little bit more luck.
This was an exciting and fun first weekend. Everyone who traveled got an opportunity on the court and a chance to contribute to our success. We use many different lineup combinations and got to see some great moments out of our players. As expected we got very good offensive performances all weekend out of Ashley Kley and Jen Miner. We also saw solid offensive contributions Jayna Morrill, Kacie Sanderson, Sarah Stahlke, and Sam Flynn. I would like to point out the great all-around play that Polly Gill provided for the team this weekend. She did an excellent job of passing, defending and providing timely attacking to our wins. Megan Cronberg found some time in the matches that gave her quality experiences and helped her get a little more comfortable with our offense.
Amye Brown and Nikki Gleich didn't wonderfully with our libero position as they both shared that role. Both provided good serve receive ball control and made great defensive hustle plays. Kalissa Wade did an excellent job with her court opportunity and being a great energy giver the entire tournament. Leah Miiller found out how truly versatile she can be as she filled the role as a backup MH successfully as well as a DS. Leah had a spectacular match against Valley City as she sparked us defensively in the 3rd game to begin our comeback win. Andrea Johnson got a lot of court experience this weekend at the MH position. She provided a change of pace for us and added a little more size to our lineup. She too helped spark our comeback match win vs. Valley City.
Our most impressive players of the weekend were Carina Fesenmaier and Brooke Warne. Carina performed very well in her first full weekend running our fast paced offense. She put our hitters into very good situations where they could have many options for their attack. My MVP of the weekend is Brooke Warne. Brooke saw limited action in every match but she absolutely played her role to near perfection. Brooke was our serving specialist for the weekend as she served and defended for one of our middles. We had our biggest runs of points while Brooke was serving. She led us with 9 aces on the weekend and had as many digs and some of our normal rotation players in about 1/4 of the court time. Great job Brooke.
We look to continue our success from the weekend as we enter September. On the 2nd we travel to Aberdeen, SD where our JV will take on North Dakota State College of Science at 5pm and our Varsity will take on Presentation College at 7pm. We then host a tournament here in Mitchell this upcoming weekend where we will have teams from ND and Montana in town to compete. Matches are all day Friday and Saturday. We look forward to our opportunities this week and invite everyone to come watch us continue our success and watch an exciting brand of volleyball.
-Coach V
We found out that we are a team that will not quit until the last whistle of the match. We won our first 3 matches of the tournament in either 4 or 5 games. Our 1st match was against Mayville State, we came out very quick and explosive and put Mayville in a complete reactive mode to our style. We jumped out to a quick 2-0 game lead and then Mayville made a little push to take the 3rd game before we ended up taking the 4th game. Our second match against Valley City State was not the same as the first match, we were the ones that were not ready to play at first as we dropped the first two games of the match. We found our stride in the 3rd game with a solid showing but then came out in the 4th game a little flat and faced a 23-18 deficit. We went on to be the cardiac kids and pulled out a 27-25 game win to force a 5th game. The 5th game started out like all the rest, we were flat again, it was 8-4 at the change of side and I think it even got to a 11-5 deficit before we stormed back to battle it out for a 18-16 5th game win to clinch the match. We started the match at 8:30 and didn't get out of the gym until close to 11pm. It was one great 1st match day of the season.
The second day had some similar feeling to the first day, our first match was against Waldorf and we jumped out quick in both of the first 2 games to and took care of business. We lacked just a little bit of concentration in the 3rd and let that one get away from us before we clinched the match in the 4th game with another solid performance. Our second match of Saturday had playing against a very talented defensive team in Baker, They had us searching for ways to create offense. We started off very slow but found a way in the first game to get us in fight before we dropped it 23-25, the 2nd game was not one we want to mention, and the third we started off very slow again but found a way to battle it out again before we dropped it 24-26. In one way it was disheartening to see that we played rather poorly but exciting at the same time to know that even when we play below our true level that we can find ways to possibly pull out some wins with a little bit more luck.
This was an exciting and fun first weekend. Everyone who traveled got an opportunity on the court and a chance to contribute to our success. We use many different lineup combinations and got to see some great moments out of our players. As expected we got very good offensive performances all weekend out of Ashley Kley and Jen Miner. We also saw solid offensive contributions Jayna Morrill, Kacie Sanderson, Sarah Stahlke, and Sam Flynn. I would like to point out the great all-around play that Polly Gill provided for the team this weekend. She did an excellent job of passing, defending and providing timely attacking to our wins. Megan Cronberg found some time in the matches that gave her quality experiences and helped her get a little more comfortable with our offense.
Amye Brown and Nikki Gleich didn't wonderfully with our libero position as they both shared that role. Both provided good serve receive ball control and made great defensive hustle plays. Kalissa Wade did an excellent job with her court opportunity and being a great energy giver the entire tournament. Leah Miiller found out how truly versatile she can be as she filled the role as a backup MH successfully as well as a DS. Leah had a spectacular match against Valley City as she sparked us defensively in the 3rd game to begin our comeback win. Andrea Johnson got a lot of court experience this weekend at the MH position. She provided a change of pace for us and added a little more size to our lineup. She too helped spark our comeback match win vs. Valley City.
Our most impressive players of the weekend were Carina Fesenmaier and Brooke Warne. Carina performed very well in her first full weekend running our fast paced offense. She put our hitters into very good situations where they could have many options for their attack. My MVP of the weekend is Brooke Warne. Brooke saw limited action in every match but she absolutely played her role to near perfection. Brooke was our serving specialist for the weekend as she served and defended for one of our middles. We had our biggest runs of points while Brooke was serving. She led us with 9 aces on the weekend and had as many digs and some of our normal rotation players in about 1/4 of the court time. Great job Brooke.
We look to continue our success from the weekend as we enter September. On the 2nd we travel to Aberdeen, SD where our JV will take on North Dakota State College of Science at 5pm and our Varsity will take on Presentation College at 7pm. We then host a tournament here in Mitchell this upcoming weekend where we will have teams from ND and Montana in town to compete. Matches are all day Friday and Saturday. We look forward to our opportunities this week and invite everyone to come watch us continue our success and watch an exciting brand of volleyball.
-Coach V
August 20, 2009
PRESEASON 2009
Well the time for preparation is upon us in full swing now. We have been in the gym for just over a week with gruelling 2 and 3 practice session days. The progress of the team has been exceptional. We have made a commitment to the defensive aspects of the game and have become a better defensive "team" than the year before. We had some very good defensive players last year (Dena Kopfmann, 2nd-Team All GPAC Libero), but did not have the full team aspect of defense complete. With the loss of Dena I feel that our team this season understands the need to be a complete system defensive team. By system defense I mean that we have to be very precise with our positioning on the court and have the ability to balance our positioning on our side of the court when some takes a defensive gamble with their position. Defense is and will be our "calling card".
However, offensively we have made some very big improvements as well. We have put a lot of emphasis in speeding our offense up to the left and right side antennas. Fans will see a lot more shoot type sets to our outsides this season. It is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
With the departure of 3 very good athletes from last year's squad we will be looking for a lot of different people to step in to some different leadership roles this season. Our returning seniors, Amanda Aman, Leah Miiller, Rosebud Haukaas, and Jayna Morrill will all be expected to give consistent performances on the court as well as demanding leadership to the teammates. They will be an integral part of our transition to success for the program. Amanda will look to solidify an already impressive LS attacking position roster for us. Leah is very versatile and will see the court in a variety of roles that may have her as a MH in one game and a DS the very next. Rosebud will look to solidify our setting roster as well as be a candidate for a RS in a 6-2 setup. Jayna will be expected to provide great numbers from the MH position.
Our junior class has the largest amount of athletes in it due to our recruiting from last season bringing in a few JUCO transfers. This is a class that is setup to have some great success over the next two seasons. Our returning juniors are Ashley Kley, Jen Miner, Amye Brown, Kara Robertson, Wendy Schmaltz. Ashley and Jen will be expected to carry the offensive load for us this season and with there fitness will be able to last an entire match and still be able to finish off plays to the very last whistle. Amye will be competing for the starting libero position as will Wendy. Kara will see competition for both a left and right-side attacking positions. Our transfers for this class will be expected to step in right away and learn a new offense and defensive system quickly and contribute all season long. Megan Cronberg, Sarah Stahlke, and Carina Fesenmaier will all be expected to have solid seasons. Carina will take over our setting position and make our offense more balanced and unpredictable. Megan and Sarah are tall strong athletes that will compete for our L2 position on the varsity roster.
Our sophomore class has a combination of players that got some quality time last season and others looking to break into the lineup this season as well. Polly Gill, Kacie Sanderson, and Brooke Warne headline this class as the returners from last season's varsity roster. Polly will be in competition for our L2 position, while Kacie is expected to be our M2 and provide excellent blocking numbers for the team. Brooke will compete for the libero position as well as be a serving specialist for us. Other main contributors to this class are Kalissa Wade, Cassie Brinker and Rebecca Knox. Kalissa has made great improvements from a year ago and will compete for our backup setter position. Cassie is another that is involved with competition for the libero position and Becca is working to become a solid DS candidate and serving specialist.
Our freshman class is athletic and full of energy. Sam Flynn, Andrea Johnson, Nikki Gleich, Kayla O'Connell are all true freshmen with a lot of talent and bright futures. Sam is a dominate force at the net and always finds ways to score points. Andrea is transitioning from an OH position from high school into a MH for us and has been doing wonderfully. Nikki is in the battle for the starting libero position and Kayla is full of energy and a defensive gem for our roster. Lexi Townsend has transferred in and will be considered a freshman, she will be a DS candidate for us. Two others that will be considered redshirt freshmen are Amber Turner and Kristee Horn. Both are DS's and will be concentrating on getting a feel for the speed of the game and learning our defensive philosophy.
We are overly excite about this season and will update you very soon on our upcoming weekend in Orange City. Take care and Go Blue.
-Coach V
However, offensively we have made some very big improvements as well. We have put a lot of emphasis in speeding our offense up to the left and right side antennas. Fans will see a lot more shoot type sets to our outsides this season. It is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
With the departure of 3 very good athletes from last year's squad we will be looking for a lot of different people to step in to some different leadership roles this season. Our returning seniors, Amanda Aman, Leah Miiller, Rosebud Haukaas, and Jayna Morrill will all be expected to give consistent performances on the court as well as demanding leadership to the teammates. They will be an integral part of our transition to success for the program. Amanda will look to solidify an already impressive LS attacking position roster for us. Leah is very versatile and will see the court in a variety of roles that may have her as a MH in one game and a DS the very next. Rosebud will look to solidify our setting roster as well as be a candidate for a RS in a 6-2 setup. Jayna will be expected to provide great numbers from the MH position.
Our junior class has the largest amount of athletes in it due to our recruiting from last season bringing in a few JUCO transfers. This is a class that is setup to have some great success over the next two seasons. Our returning juniors are Ashley Kley, Jen Miner, Amye Brown, Kara Robertson, Wendy Schmaltz. Ashley and Jen will be expected to carry the offensive load for us this season and with there fitness will be able to last an entire match and still be able to finish off plays to the very last whistle. Amye will be competing for the starting libero position as will Wendy. Kara will see competition for both a left and right-side attacking positions. Our transfers for this class will be expected to step in right away and learn a new offense and defensive system quickly and contribute all season long. Megan Cronberg, Sarah Stahlke, and Carina Fesenmaier will all be expected to have solid seasons. Carina will take over our setting position and make our offense more balanced and unpredictable. Megan and Sarah are tall strong athletes that will compete for our L2 position on the varsity roster.
Our sophomore class has a combination of players that got some quality time last season and others looking to break into the lineup this season as well. Polly Gill, Kacie Sanderson, and Brooke Warne headline this class as the returners from last season's varsity roster. Polly will be in competition for our L2 position, while Kacie is expected to be our M2 and provide excellent blocking numbers for the team. Brooke will compete for the libero position as well as be a serving specialist for us. Other main contributors to this class are Kalissa Wade, Cassie Brinker and Rebecca Knox. Kalissa has made great improvements from a year ago and will compete for our backup setter position. Cassie is another that is involved with competition for the libero position and Becca is working to become a solid DS candidate and serving specialist.
Our freshman class is athletic and full of energy. Sam Flynn, Andrea Johnson, Nikki Gleich, Kayla O'Connell are all true freshmen with a lot of talent and bright futures. Sam is a dominate force at the net and always finds ways to score points. Andrea is transitioning from an OH position from high school into a MH for us and has been doing wonderfully. Nikki is in the battle for the starting libero position and Kayla is full of energy and a defensive gem for our roster. Lexi Townsend has transferred in and will be considered a freshman, she will be a DS candidate for us. Two others that will be considered redshirt freshmen are Amber Turner and Kristee Horn. Both are DS's and will be concentrating on getting a feel for the speed of the game and learning our defensive philosophy.
We are overly excite about this season and will update you very soon on our upcoming weekend in Orange City. Take care and Go Blue.
-Coach V
July 24, 2009
Team Leadership
This entry is not about the DWU program it is for all athletes and coaches to help get yourselves on the same page for your upcoming season.
As I have gone through my years of coaching many different divisions of college volleyball and coaching high school players at teams at summer of camps. I keep looking at some of the differences between those programs that annually seem to be at the top of their game and achieve their goals. Of course all of us know that talent and skill development are a big factor in successful programs. How do we ensure that there is going to be quality development of talent and skill? I have found that for most teams that struggled with quality development there was a lack of leadership throughout the team. This lack of leadership came from both the coaching staff and players. In recent years I have started to get rid of the phrase "team captain" from our program. I wanted it to be more specific and more responsible and accountable sounding so we call them "team leaders". We want these people to lead the rest of the team in the right direction for accomplishing all of our goals on and off the court.
However, it is a learning process for both coaches and players. There are natural leaders out there as well as those that need to be nudged into leaders but for both those leadership skills have to be discovered and then developed. One thing I am still learning is to be specific with my leaders as to what I truly want from them. What their responsibilities are and how to get them to follow through with handling their responsibilities. A lot of times us as coaches just seem to say "be a leader". I have taken responsibility for not leading or teaching my "leaders" how to lead. I look back and past seasons and sometimes realize that all I said to my team or leaders was, "figure it out" or "you need to be a better leader". Unfortunately it is not that simple (oh how we wish it were) young athletes need direction so that they can give direction.
I have put a major focus this summer in learning about how to develop great leaders for my team. I want to develop responsible and respected team leaders. Here are some of the things we will be looking for out of our team leaders this upcoming season:
* We set high standards and hold teammates accountable to follow the rules
* Inspire teammates to work hard, overcome obstacles, and stay focused
* Refocus teammates when they are distracted, down, and discouraged
* Minimize and manage team conflicts, cliques, and problems
* Encourage teammates to act responsibly on and off the court
There are many styles of leadership out there. Every single person can be a leader in their own way. It does not only have to be seniors either. The greatest quality I have seen in the best leaders is their demand (in a positive way) for excellence from their teammates on and off the court.
I wish all of you the absolute best with your upcoming seasons and I look forward to updating you on the DWU Volleyball Program as we begin our journey for a GPAC Conference Championship.
-Coach V
As I have gone through my years of coaching many different divisions of college volleyball and coaching high school players at teams at summer of camps. I keep looking at some of the differences between those programs that annually seem to be at the top of their game and achieve their goals. Of course all of us know that talent and skill development are a big factor in successful programs. How do we ensure that there is going to be quality development of talent and skill? I have found that for most teams that struggled with quality development there was a lack of leadership throughout the team. This lack of leadership came from both the coaching staff and players. In recent years I have started to get rid of the phrase "team captain" from our program. I wanted it to be more specific and more responsible and accountable sounding so we call them "team leaders". We want these people to lead the rest of the team in the right direction for accomplishing all of our goals on and off the court.
However, it is a learning process for both coaches and players. There are natural leaders out there as well as those that need to be nudged into leaders but for both those leadership skills have to be discovered and then developed. One thing I am still learning is to be specific with my leaders as to what I truly want from them. What their responsibilities are and how to get them to follow through with handling their responsibilities. A lot of times us as coaches just seem to say "be a leader". I have taken responsibility for not leading or teaching my "leaders" how to lead. I look back and past seasons and sometimes realize that all I said to my team or leaders was, "figure it out" or "you need to be a better leader". Unfortunately it is not that simple (oh how we wish it were) young athletes need direction so that they can give direction.
I have put a major focus this summer in learning about how to develop great leaders for my team. I want to develop responsible and respected team leaders. Here are some of the things we will be looking for out of our team leaders this upcoming season:
* We set high standards and hold teammates accountable to follow the rules
* Inspire teammates to work hard, overcome obstacles, and stay focused
* Refocus teammates when they are distracted, down, and discouraged
* Minimize and manage team conflicts, cliques, and problems
* Encourage teammates to act responsibly on and off the court
There are many styles of leadership out there. Every single person can be a leader in their own way. It does not only have to be seniors either. The greatest quality I have seen in the best leaders is their demand (in a positive way) for excellence from their teammates on and off the court.
I wish all of you the absolute best with your upcoming seasons and I look forward to updating you on the DWU Volleyball Program as we begin our journey for a GPAC Conference Championship.
-Coach V
July 2, 2009
Summer of Volleyball
Hello everyone,
I hope your summer is going well and that you are getting plenty of sun in your days. If you are getting a lot of time outside and getting a tan on a daily basis, I'm jealous of you. I have not had too many opportunities to spend extended time in the sun but when I do I take full advantage. You may be asking, "Coach why are not getting outside in this wonderful time of the year that often?" I have been coaching camps for the entire month of June and therefore have been inside a building all of the time. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the camps I have done so far.
My staff and I have already been to 6 high schools in the month of June teaching them some advanced methods of team and individual play. We also have hosted a Youth Camp and Team Camp at DWU in June. We have had great responses from all of the coaches and players that have gone through the camps so far. There is nothing like seeing young athletes improve in multiple areas of their game in such a short amount of time. We still have another 5 camps in July that we are anxious and excited about. With all of our camps we will have traveled to Northeast SD, Southern SD, Southwest SD, Minneapolis, MN, and quite a few schools around Mitchell, SD.
We have coached camps for a wide variety of teams this summer ranging from State champions to teams that have relatively new programs. Everyone is looking for some advantage above the competition and we given each team a little something that can focus on to help them achieve their goals. I hope all of you are taking the time to improve your personal game, whether it be physically or mentally. Being mentally tough to handle the ups and downs of a season is a very important part of being a top tier athlete.
My last part of this entry is to invite all of you to take some time and watch our USA Men's National Team compete in the World League. The USA team is the defending champions of the World League and Olympics; they are defending these titles with a relatively new team. They are going with younger new players in preparation for the 4 year process for the Olympics. They are still extremely talented and gifted as athletes and volleyball players. We are being given a great opportunity over the next few weekends to watch this great level of competitive volleyball on TV. The matches are shown on ESPN2 & ESPNU. I watched the match from this past weekend and felt lucky to see a 5 set match win by the USA over the Netherlands. This upcoming Saturday they play against Italy in an important matchup with their pool match is being shown today on ESPNU at 1pm or 3 pm and this Saturday at 11am on ESPN2. I will be DVRing it on Saturday to watch on Sunday; oh the great beauty of DVR, lol. They do show the matches in the evenings during week occasionally as well. On July 14th the match vs. China will be shown on ESPN2.
I hope everyone continues to get plenty of sun and enjoying their summer. I will be doing another post later on in July to recap our camps and setup our preseason camp for the fall season. I wish all of you a great 4th of July.
-Coach V
I hope your summer is going well and that you are getting plenty of sun in your days. If you are getting a lot of time outside and getting a tan on a daily basis, I'm jealous of you. I have not had too many opportunities to spend extended time in the sun but when I do I take full advantage. You may be asking, "Coach why are not getting outside in this wonderful time of the year that often?" I have been coaching camps for the entire month of June and therefore have been inside a building all of the time. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the camps I have done so far.
My staff and I have already been to 6 high schools in the month of June teaching them some advanced methods of team and individual play. We also have hosted a Youth Camp and Team Camp at DWU in June. We have had great responses from all of the coaches and players that have gone through the camps so far. There is nothing like seeing young athletes improve in multiple areas of their game in such a short amount of time. We still have another 5 camps in July that we are anxious and excited about. With all of our camps we will have traveled to Northeast SD, Southern SD, Southwest SD, Minneapolis, MN, and quite a few schools around Mitchell, SD.
We have coached camps for a wide variety of teams this summer ranging from State champions to teams that have relatively new programs. Everyone is looking for some advantage above the competition and we given each team a little something that can focus on to help them achieve their goals. I hope all of you are taking the time to improve your personal game, whether it be physically or mentally. Being mentally tough to handle the ups and downs of a season is a very important part of being a top tier athlete.
My last part of this entry is to invite all of you to take some time and watch our USA Men's National Team compete in the World League. The USA team is the defending champions of the World League and Olympics; they are defending these titles with a relatively new team. They are going with younger new players in preparation for the 4 year process for the Olympics. They are still extremely talented and gifted as athletes and volleyball players. We are being given a great opportunity over the next few weekends to watch this great level of competitive volleyball on TV. The matches are shown on ESPN2 & ESPNU. I watched the match from this past weekend and felt lucky to see a 5 set match win by the USA over the Netherlands. This upcoming Saturday they play against Italy in an important matchup with their pool match is being shown today on ESPNU at 1pm or 3 pm and this Saturday at 11am on ESPN2. I will be DVRing it on Saturday to watch on Sunday; oh the great beauty of DVR, lol. They do show the matches in the evenings during week occasionally as well. On July 14th the match vs. China will be shown on ESPN2.
I hope everyone continues to get plenty of sun and enjoying their summer. I will be doing another post later on in July to recap our camps and setup our preseason camp for the fall season. I wish all of you a great 4th of July.
-Coach V
June 12, 2009
Summer Time in the Great Plains
Well the weather hasn't really cooperated enough to have truly feel like summer all of the time but we keep hoping that turns for us very quickly.
Busy, busy, busy seems to be phrase I hear all of the time from the team and even prospects. It is interesting as we all go through the school year looking forward to the summer it ends up being that we are more busy in the summer than we ever are during the year. Yet we like that way.
At the end of May I played at the USA Adult Nationals tournament in Minneapolis. HOLY COW, it was amazing to see how many great players in this country. Getting to see the Open division of the men's and women's was such a treat. These players came from some of the best college programs in teh nation as well as some of the great professional clubs in Europe. Sometimes all I could do was just sit back in amazement at the athleticism of these players. As I watched I evaluated each team and player to figure out what made them great. I have come to 2 main things for the great ones - they have excellent ball control; ball control in many different aspects whether it only be passing or setting or hitting the ball. They had a at least 2 of those skills of excellent ball control. The other thing that nearly every top tier player had was an extremely intense competitive mind so that they could get through any mistakes they did make. Yes even the great players make mistakes. KEY: LEARN TO BE MENTALLY TOUGH!!!!
I highly recommend everyone to go to and eventually play in this USA Adult National Tournament someday.
I have been going around the eastern region of SD the past few weeks doing camps at some of the high schools in the region. It has been nice to be back on the court teaching this wonderful sport to the youth of America. In the coming weeks I will be in Minneapolis at Cooper HS and then back to Parkston, SD, after that we have our camps here on campus that starts with a Youth Camp for 3rd through 8th graders (they are so fun and eager to learn) and then have a Team Camp to finish off that week followed by a camp in Chamberlain, SD and then I get a break for a few days until I go back out on the road. I love it and would not change my profession for anything else.
About two weeks ago we finalized our 2009 competition schedule, please check it out on our website. I really like the schedule because of its balance between matches we should win and others that will really test us. We are going to have a lot of new faces on the roster next season so we will have to figure quite a few things out early in the season and make sure that our team chemistry is in an extremely positive movement. It is certainly early to predict a W/L record or conference finish without having any practices at this time but I would like to say that we have a great chance of reaching somewhere between 16 to 24 wins in 2009 because of our schedule.
The summer is an important time for a volleyball player it is the time of the year where you prepare your body for the coming challenges. Enjoy your time in the summer but understand that you are on the verge of putting your body through a highly intense time of the year.
Continue to have a great summer
-Coach V
Busy, busy, busy seems to be phrase I hear all of the time from the team and even prospects. It is interesting as we all go through the school year looking forward to the summer it ends up being that we are more busy in the summer than we ever are during the year. Yet we like that way.
At the end of May I played at the USA Adult Nationals tournament in Minneapolis. HOLY COW, it was amazing to see how many great players in this country. Getting to see the Open division of the men's and women's was such a treat. These players came from some of the best college programs in teh nation as well as some of the great professional clubs in Europe. Sometimes all I could do was just sit back in amazement at the athleticism of these players. As I watched I evaluated each team and player to figure out what made them great. I have come to 2 main things for the great ones - they have excellent ball control; ball control in many different aspects whether it only be passing or setting or hitting the ball. They had a at least 2 of those skills of excellent ball control. The other thing that nearly every top tier player had was an extremely intense competitive mind so that they could get through any mistakes they did make. Yes even the great players make mistakes. KEY: LEARN TO BE MENTALLY TOUGH!!!!
I highly recommend everyone to go to and eventually play in this USA Adult National Tournament someday.
I have been going around the eastern region of SD the past few weeks doing camps at some of the high schools in the region. It has been nice to be back on the court teaching this wonderful sport to the youth of America. In the coming weeks I will be in Minneapolis at Cooper HS and then back to Parkston, SD, after that we have our camps here on campus that starts with a Youth Camp for 3rd through 8th graders (they are so fun and eager to learn) and then have a Team Camp to finish off that week followed by a camp in Chamberlain, SD and then I get a break for a few days until I go back out on the road. I love it and would not change my profession for anything else.
About two weeks ago we finalized our 2009 competition schedule, please check it out on our website. I really like the schedule because of its balance between matches we should win and others that will really test us. We are going to have a lot of new faces on the roster next season so we will have to figure quite a few things out early in the season and make sure that our team chemistry is in an extremely positive movement. It is certainly early to predict a W/L record or conference finish without having any practices at this time but I would like to say that we have a great chance of reaching somewhere between 16 to 24 wins in 2009 because of our schedule.
The summer is an important time for a volleyball player it is the time of the year where you prepare your body for the coming challenges. Enjoy your time in the summer but understand that you are on the verge of putting your body through a highly intense time of the year.
Continue to have a great summer
-Coach V
May 1, 2009
2009 Recruiting Class
It is time to chat about the great additions to the Tiger Volleyball Program.
The first thing I can say about this recruiting class is that it is overall athletic and experienced. Our goal for this recruiting class was to create a roster that rivals the look of the top teams in the GPAC. Those teams are tall, strong and athletic. Our focus wasn't necessarily to be position specific, outside of recruiting for our setter and libero positions, but to be athletic, tall, versatile, and deeper with talent and skill at every position. I am confident that we have accomplished our goals at this time in the recruiting process.
Please follow the web links provided to read the official press releases about the 2009 Recruiting Class.
http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/pressreleases/2009/feb19.htm
http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/pressreleases/2009/apr30b.htm
We decided to go through the Junior College route to get the immediate difference makers for our team.
Headlining this class is the addition of setter Carina Fesenmaier, a St. Cloud, MN native, from NJCAA Division III powerhouse Ridgewater College. Carina has led Ridgewater College to back-to-back National Championship match appearances. In the GPAC you have to have a strong offense that is consistent and unpredictable, Carina will surely provide us the leadership and decision-making that will take us to the next level.
Sarah Stahlke, native of Waconia, MN, played at North Dakota State College of Science the past two seasons. The past two seasons Stahlke led NDSCS in hitting percentage and was in the top 3 in kills and blocks. Stahlke fits the mold of our recruiting philosophy for 2009, in that she can play all three front row positions and dominate the net at each position. We are beyond lucky to have signed Sarah.
Megan Cronberg, from Luverne, MN, played 2 seasons at Minnesota West Community College where she was an outside hitter and in the top 3 in nearly every attacking statistical category. Megan is another 6' tall, athletic player that can play multiple positions. Megan will help us become a more consistent attacking team from either the left or right side of the net. She is an athletic player with solid blocking skills to go along with her offensive talent.
We continued our recruiting philosophy of athletic and multi-positional with two incoming freshmen:
Andrea Johnson, from Rapid City, SD, of Central HS is one of the diamonds in the rough. She is another 6'+ athlete that can play any of the 3 frontline positions. Andrea was one of the top attacking options for the Central HS squad this past year as well as one of their top blockers. She may also be asked to provide some backcourt stability as an all-around player over her 4 year career. Options, is the word that comes to mind when I think of Andrea. She can do so many things on the court it gives us the chance to have a flexibility to our roster.
Sam Flynn, native of Pierre, SD, of Riggs HS is again another 6'+ tall player that can play multiple positions. Sam is a dominating blocker and excellent off of 1 foot and hits a very heavy ball. She has the potential to see time in the middle or on the right side. She also has a difficult float serve that gives every passer fits. Sam is another provider of options and flexibility for our roster.
We have to replace a two-time all-conference libero for our roster next year. We have some returners competing for that position but the following recruits will also put their name in the hat for this extremely important position with our style of play:
Nikki Gleich of Rapid City Stevens HS is great defensive presence on the court. Nikki had great senior season with setting a school record with digs in a season with 770 and digs in the AA state tournament with 84. She had a career high of 52 digs in one match vs. Rapid City Central and went over 20 digs in a match 19 times with 6 of those 19 times going over 30 digs. The ability to read defenders is Nikki's greatest attribute and that shows with her great performance throughout her senior season.
Kayla O'Connell, native of Philip, SD and Philip HS, is an extremely quick and explosive defensive player. Watching her at the SD State Tournament was so much fun. She was all over the court and I think she may have gone into the other courts to save a couple of balls for her team numerous times. Relentless is the word that comes to mind when I think of Kayla's game. That is what certainly helped her lead her team to the 2008 Class "B" State Championship.
Lexi Townsend, native of Canistota, SD, is transferring from Univ. of South Dakota. Lexi took a year off from competitive volleyball and will be joining DWU in the fall to get back on to the court. While at Canistota, Lexi was named a first team all conference player. She has the athleticism to get back into the swing of competitive, organized volleyball fairly quickly. Her new found passion to play will be a huge advantage for her to get back into playing shape again. She gives us depth at a position we lost a lot of players to after the 2008 season.
Amber Turner, from Canova, SD and Hanson School in Alexandria will add a true local spice to our roster. She was an all-conference player at Hanson and will be expected to bring that experience to our team right away. Amber will be asked to pick up the new defensive system and speed of the game in a short amount of time. Amber is another player that helps add depth to our DS positions.
There are very high expectations for this particular class. We have a great balance of JUCO players to bring the immediate success and in-coming freshmen that will be important parts to our foundation for the future. We are looking to push our way right into the thick of things within the GPAC. If you are one of the best teams in this conference you are one of the best in the nation. Our goal is to take care of business everyday to improve and give ourselves the opportunities to take care of business against whomever is across the net from us on any particular night. We will make some noise in the 2009 season.
It has been a long time since there has been a recruiting class with these kinds of accolades and athleticism. We aren't done just yet though............
-Coach V
The first thing I can say about this recruiting class is that it is overall athletic and experienced. Our goal for this recruiting class was to create a roster that rivals the look of the top teams in the GPAC. Those teams are tall, strong and athletic. Our focus wasn't necessarily to be position specific, outside of recruiting for our setter and libero positions, but to be athletic, tall, versatile, and deeper with talent and skill at every position. I am confident that we have accomplished our goals at this time in the recruiting process.
Please follow the web links provided to read the official press releases about the 2009 Recruiting Class.
http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/pressreleases/2009/feb19.htm
http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/pressreleases/2009/apr30b.htm
We decided to go through the Junior College route to get the immediate difference makers for our team.
Headlining this class is the addition of setter Carina Fesenmaier, a St. Cloud, MN native, from NJCAA Division III powerhouse Ridgewater College. Carina has led Ridgewater College to back-to-back National Championship match appearances. In the GPAC you have to have a strong offense that is consistent and unpredictable, Carina will surely provide us the leadership and decision-making that will take us to the next level.
Sarah Stahlke, native of Waconia, MN, played at North Dakota State College of Science the past two seasons. The past two seasons Stahlke led NDSCS in hitting percentage and was in the top 3 in kills and blocks. Stahlke fits the mold of our recruiting philosophy for 2009, in that she can play all three front row positions and dominate the net at each position. We are beyond lucky to have signed Sarah.
Megan Cronberg, from Luverne, MN, played 2 seasons at Minnesota West Community College where she was an outside hitter and in the top 3 in nearly every attacking statistical category. Megan is another 6' tall, athletic player that can play multiple positions. Megan will help us become a more consistent attacking team from either the left or right side of the net. She is an athletic player with solid blocking skills to go along with her offensive talent.
We continued our recruiting philosophy of athletic and multi-positional with two incoming freshmen:
Andrea Johnson, from Rapid City, SD, of Central HS is one of the diamonds in the rough. She is another 6'+ athlete that can play any of the 3 frontline positions. Andrea was one of the top attacking options for the Central HS squad this past year as well as one of their top blockers. She may also be asked to provide some backcourt stability as an all-around player over her 4 year career. Options, is the word that comes to mind when I think of Andrea. She can do so many things on the court it gives us the chance to have a flexibility to our roster.
Sam Flynn, native of Pierre, SD, of Riggs HS is again another 6'+ tall player that can play multiple positions. Sam is a dominating blocker and excellent off of 1 foot and hits a very heavy ball. She has the potential to see time in the middle or on the right side. She also has a difficult float serve that gives every passer fits. Sam is another provider of options and flexibility for our roster.
We have to replace a two-time all-conference libero for our roster next year. We have some returners competing for that position but the following recruits will also put their name in the hat for this extremely important position with our style of play:
Nikki Gleich of Rapid City Stevens HS is great defensive presence on the court. Nikki had great senior season with setting a school record with digs in a season with 770 and digs in the AA state tournament with 84. She had a career high of 52 digs in one match vs. Rapid City Central and went over 20 digs in a match 19 times with 6 of those 19 times going over 30 digs. The ability to read defenders is Nikki's greatest attribute and that shows with her great performance throughout her senior season.
Kayla O'Connell, native of Philip, SD and Philip HS, is an extremely quick and explosive defensive player. Watching her at the SD State Tournament was so much fun. She was all over the court and I think she may have gone into the other courts to save a couple of balls for her team numerous times. Relentless is the word that comes to mind when I think of Kayla's game. That is what certainly helped her lead her team to the 2008 Class "B" State Championship.
Lexi Townsend, native of Canistota, SD, is transferring from Univ. of South Dakota. Lexi took a year off from competitive volleyball and will be joining DWU in the fall to get back on to the court. While at Canistota, Lexi was named a first team all conference player. She has the athleticism to get back into the swing of competitive, organized volleyball fairly quickly. Her new found passion to play will be a huge advantage for her to get back into playing shape again. She gives us depth at a position we lost a lot of players to after the 2008 season.
Amber Turner, from Canova, SD and Hanson School in Alexandria will add a true local spice to our roster. She was an all-conference player at Hanson and will be expected to bring that experience to our team right away. Amber will be asked to pick up the new defensive system and speed of the game in a short amount of time. Amber is another player that helps add depth to our DS positions.
There are very high expectations for this particular class. We have a great balance of JUCO players to bring the immediate success and in-coming freshmen that will be important parts to our foundation for the future. We are looking to push our way right into the thick of things within the GPAC. If you are one of the best teams in this conference you are one of the best in the nation. Our goal is to take care of business everyday to improve and give ourselves the opportunities to take care of business against whomever is across the net from us on any particular night. We will make some noise in the 2009 season.
It has been a long time since there has been a recruiting class with these kinds of accolades and athleticism. We aren't done just yet though............
-Coach V
April 17, 2009
Amanda Aman - Student-Athlete: Great Experience
Being a student athlete is really the only thing that I know because I have been doing this since I started sports in middle school. I really think that being a student athlete, here at Dakota Wesleyan, has prepared me greatly for my future. I feel that I very good time management. We play all year round so having work, classes, workouts, and homework can get overwhelming at times. But because of that feeling I have found ways to balance it (and yes, it does take some work). I'm going to be an elementary education teacher and I feel that I am more than ready to take on those long hours and stress.
Another thing that I think is unique about being a student athlete is that we all have experienced losing, not having things go our way, working so hard but not always getting the outcome we want, how to give and take constructive criticism, what dedication really means, and winning. This is something that a lot of people don't necessarily experience until they enter the workplace.
Overall, I feel it is a great experience and is something I wish more people experienced.
~*Amanda Aman*~
Another thing that I think is unique about being a student athlete is that we all have experienced losing, not having things go our way, working so hard but not always getting the outcome we want, how to give and take constructive criticism, what dedication really means, and winning. This is something that a lot of people don't necessarily experience until they enter the workplace.
Overall, I feel it is a great experience and is something I wish more people experienced.
~*Amanda Aman*~
April 15, 2009
Leah Miller - Proud to be a Student-Athlete
My name is Leah Miller and I will be a senior student-athlete at DWU next year. That is right, a student-athlete. Here at DWU athlete never comes before student and I have to say that I am proud of that. For me, being a student athlete is an accomplishment because not everyone can do it. Being a student- athlete makes me manage my time, which in turn, will help me in my education career that is quickly approaching. Being a student-athlete has also given me more confidence in myself by being able to multi-task. I can do homework, while folding clothes, making lunch and have that all done by 3:30 before practice. I am privileged to be able to be a student-athlete and hope that more people are able to accomplish the same.
:) THANKS
:) THANKS
April 13, 2009
Spring Season Continued
Hello everyone, it is time for another entry to update you on what has been going on for the past few weeks with the DWU VB program. It has been busy the past few weeks with the semester wrapping up and our spring season coming to a close. We have 4 practices remaining before our final spring tournament for the year. We will be traveling to Augustana College to compete this weekend. We will have the incredible task to play NCAA Division 2 powerhouse Southwest MN State as well as an alumni team from Augie that will have numerous all-americans. We are very excited for this opportunity to play against this type of competition. It is everyday you get to play against the best in the nation from a higher level of competition. We will also get to play Univ of Sioux Falls and Iowa Lakes CC. It is going to be a long day of playing and a lot of fun. Our first match will be at 10 am at the Elmen Center on the campus of Augustana College.
In the coming weeks we will have another press release on our commitments for the class of 2009.
Stay Tuned.
-EV
In the coming weeks we will have another press release on our commitments for the class of 2009.
Stay Tuned.
-EV
March 23, 2009
Spring Competition
On Friday, March 20th we traveled to the University of Sioux Falls for a spring play date with USF and Briar Cliff. We had 6 team practices leading up to this competition, in which only 2 to 3 of those practices did we have our entire team together to prepare for the matches.
This was a great opportunity for us to see where we were at as a team and more importantly how far along we are with our aggressive jump serving mentality that everyone is developing in our program. I have to say that I was impressed that our serving was solid the entire evening, we forced our opponents into out-of-system offense a vast majority of the time. If I remember correctly there were only 3-4 times during the 3 matches played that we had 3 or more misses in a row, which is very impressive for this being the first time in a true game-like competition atmosphere.
It was fun to see this team on the court again smiling and competing. We used 5-6 different lineups throughout the night to get some players in different positions and others more experience with players they haven't been on the court with before. We still have many things to work on over the next few weeks as we progress to preparing ourselves for the next spring competition that is on April 18th at Augustana College. We focused a lot on our serving and offense these previous weeks to prepare for the competition over the next couple our focus will be serve receive passing and defensive positioning and movement.
We use the spring as a catapult for our upcoming fall season. This team will continue to progress and learn new things about the game everyday. I congratulate them on a successful competition on Friday and I am eager to get going again this week with a new focus on the details.
"If you want something you've never had, you must do something you've never done before"
-Coach V
This was a great opportunity for us to see where we were at as a team and more importantly how far along we are with our aggressive jump serving mentality that everyone is developing in our program. I have to say that I was impressed that our serving was solid the entire evening, we forced our opponents into out-of-system offense a vast majority of the time. If I remember correctly there were only 3-4 times during the 3 matches played that we had 3 or more misses in a row, which is very impressive for this being the first time in a true game-like competition atmosphere.
It was fun to see this team on the court again smiling and competing. We used 5-6 different lineups throughout the night to get some players in different positions and others more experience with players they haven't been on the court with before. We still have many things to work on over the next few weeks as we progress to preparing ourselves for the next spring competition that is on April 18th at Augustana College. We focused a lot on our serving and offense these previous weeks to prepare for the competition over the next couple our focus will be serve receive passing and defensive positioning and movement.
We use the spring as a catapult for our upcoming fall season. This team will continue to progress and learn new things about the game everyday. I congratulate them on a successful competition on Friday and I am eager to get going again this week with a new focus on the details.
"If you want something you've never had, you must do something you've never done before"
-Coach V
February 18, 2009
Jayna's Post
Hello, my name is Jayna Morrill, I am from Creighton, Nebraska. I am currently a junior at Dakota Wesleyan University, I am majoring in Secondary Social Studies Education. I have been on the DWU volleyball team for the past three seasons and next fall will be my last season as a tiger.
The transition from the past coach to Coach Viney has been a great one for me. Personally I think the team as a whole has transitioned greatly. We had to do things that we weren't use too but the results were amazing. In one year we turned around our record and people in our conference started to wonder about the new DWU volleyball team.I think our conference is one of the toughest conference. Last season we had at least four teams in the conference go to the NAIA National Tourney and did very well. As a result it makes high school athletes look at our conference as a place where they may want to further their careers.
During our off season we work on certain things that may give us an advantage during the season. Right now we are working on speed and defense, being able to react quickly to a ball. We have increased our lifting and quickness. All in all, I am very excited for our up coming season we have a great group of athletes who are willing to do anything to win.
The transition from the past coach to Coach Viney has been a great one for me. Personally I think the team as a whole has transitioned greatly. We had to do things that we weren't use too but the results were amazing. In one year we turned around our record and people in our conference started to wonder about the new DWU volleyball team.I think our conference is one of the toughest conference. Last season we had at least four teams in the conference go to the NAIA National Tourney and did very well. As a result it makes high school athletes look at our conference as a place where they may want to further their careers.
During our off season we work on certain things that may give us an advantage during the season. Right now we are working on speed and defense, being able to react quickly to a ball. We have increased our lifting and quickness. All in all, I am very excited for our up coming season we have a great group of athletes who are willing to do anything to win.
January 31, 2009
Academic Achievements
Dakota Wesleyan University and this volleyball program are committed to the academic success of our athletes. We take great pride in the achievements of our student-athletes.
The Dakota Wesleyan University Dean's List was announced and there are 13 players and coaches from this 2008 season on the list.
Players from 2008 Roster:
Maria Weineke - Jackson, MN
Leah (Howes) Miller - Tea, SD
Amanda Aman - Nemo, SD
Allison Hajek - Omaha, NE
Morgan Carlson - Huron, SD
Amye Brown - Meeker, CO
Jen Miner - Cavour, SD
Kalissa Wade - Amherst, SD
Tru Boldt - Arlington, SD
Muriel Kjerstad - Wall, SD
Brooke Warne - Rapid City, SD
Student Assistant Coaches:
Kelsie Nebelsick - Canistota, SD
Dannie Burt - Tea, SD
Congratulations to these students and all of their accomplishments.
- Coach V
The Dakota Wesleyan University Dean's List was announced and there are 13 players and coaches from this 2008 season on the list.
Players from 2008 Roster:
Maria Weineke - Jackson, MN
Leah (Howes) Miller - Tea, SD
Amanda Aman - Nemo, SD
Allison Hajek - Omaha, NE
Morgan Carlson - Huron, SD
Amye Brown - Meeker, CO
Jen Miner - Cavour, SD
Kalissa Wade - Amherst, SD
Tru Boldt - Arlington, SD
Muriel Kjerstad - Wall, SD
Brooke Warne - Rapid City, SD
Student Assistant Coaches:
Kelsie Nebelsick - Canistota, SD
Dannie Burt - Tea, SD
Congratulations to these students and all of their accomplishments.
- Coach V
January 18, 2009
The Inside Information
Hello everyone, this is Eric Viney, head volleyball coach for the Tiger Volleyball program. We are entering the spring semester of 2009 with high hopes after a 2008 season of near miss wins and multiple 5 set losses by 2 points. We are looking to make the necessary adjustments to our mental approach so that in 2009 we can be the victors in those tight matches.
The Team Motto for 2009 is "IF YOU WANT SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER HAD, YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE".
The players are still in the transition stage of becoming comfortable with the new style of play and methods of coaching. This spring season is going to be one of great improvements in a lot of areas for every athlete in our program. They have just started plyometric workouts and lifting to gain quickness and power that they have not had before. In a couple of weeks we will put a concentration on becoming a strong serving team by teaching a majority of our players some jump serving techniques. We will then start to include some defensive eye sequencing training that helps gain quickness with the mental process while playing. We are going to be able to anticipate plays on the court much faster in the coming seasons due to a true commitment to this training technique.
Everyone involved with our program is in high anticipation mode for what lies ahead this spring. We have a solid core of returners and are looking to build right away with a very talented recruiting class.
We WILL be doing things that this program has never done before.
--Coach V
The Team Motto for 2009 is "IF YOU WANT SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER HAD, YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE".
The players are still in the transition stage of becoming comfortable with the new style of play and methods of coaching. This spring season is going to be one of great improvements in a lot of areas for every athlete in our program. They have just started plyometric workouts and lifting to gain quickness and power that they have not had before. In a couple of weeks we will put a concentration on becoming a strong serving team by teaching a majority of our players some jump serving techniques. We will then start to include some defensive eye sequencing training that helps gain quickness with the mental process while playing. We are going to be able to anticipate plays on the court much faster in the coming seasons due to a true commitment to this training technique.
Everyone involved with our program is in high anticipation mode for what lies ahead this spring. We have a solid core of returners and are looking to build right away with a very talented recruiting class.
We WILL be doing things that this program has never done before.
--Coach V
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