Riding a 12-game win streak, the Spartan volleyball team is heating up at the right time.
“We’ve had many peaks this season, and we’re hoping for a nice stretch run,” said Head Coach Chris Catanach.
“The more we play, the more rhythm we have. Having a lot of days between games makes things a bit more difficult.”
With two tough conference road games looming at Florida Tech and Lynn, the team cannot look too far ahead.
“Lynn University has five really good players, and it is going to be senior night for them. They have a nice home winning streak going. That game will really test us,” Catanach said.
“It may be tough to motivate the girls for Florida Tech, because they are struggling.”
Earlier in the year, the team fell to a Rollins Collins team that is currently ranked sixth in the Sunshine State Conference with a 6-6 record.
As displayed by their win-loss total, the Spartans learned their lesson from that Rollins match.
The team has won every match since the upset loss in Sept., propelling UT to a No. 3 national ranking.
The win streak included another conference victory on Nov. 2 against Saint Leo University. The Spartans swept the match three sets to none.
However, Coach Canatach said that the team is much more focused on conference and regional play.
“In all honesty, the national ranking is nice because it gains us respect, but it is just an opinion poll and has zero bearing on the NCAA tournament,” said Catanach.
“Conference play is much more important, and that is what we are focusing on right now.”
Senior Kaleigh Cunningham echoed her coach’s thoughts on the national ranking.
“The national ranking doesn’t mean that much and we are not thinking about nationals right now anyways. We still have plenty of the season left, and thinking ahead is what gets teams in trouble,” she said.
The team has been gelling much more as of late, and is playing more to their potential. Cunningham believes that even with a 22-3 overall record, the team has room for some improvement.
“There is still more room to grow, but we have gotten much better as a team, and by the end of the match we are clicking on all cylinders,” she said.
Coach Canatach found similarities between this year’s team and the 2006 team. In 2006, the Spartan women went 35-1 en route to being crowned the NCAA National Champions.
“This team has similar potential. It is not as strong as that team in the middle, but this team is much more athletic.
One big similarity is that the 2006 team also had major problems clicking early in the year, and it all came together late,” said Catanach.
The head coach also spoke of one of the team’s strengths.
“This is one of our deepest teams ever. With three solid middle players, four solid outside players and some young players that can come in, the competition is sky high,” stated Catanach.
“Competition can create confidence, or be the downfall of a player; I think everyone is still learning how to deal with the competitiveness of it all.”
Cunningham, who is second on the team with 209 kills, explained the progression that this year’s team has gone through over the course of 25 games.
“This year has been an emotional roller coaster, and we’ve all been battling through [it]. Last year we won because of talent, and this year we had more expectations, and it’s been difficult at times.
“We barely escaped some matches, and lately we’ve been clicking more and more. We know if we get in a funk, that it’s okay, we’ve been there before” said Cunningham. “We basically returned the same six on the court, and we play as a team and pick each other up all the time.”
The next month promises to be an exciting one for the Spartans as they make their run for another National Title.
John Hilsenroth can be reached at jhilsenroth@spartans.ut.edu.