After a summer of personal training, the UT volleyball team is quickly getting back on the court and in tip top shape. They are preparing for a difficult preseason tournament, and for the season that follows. Hosted in Colorado, the preseason tournament beginning on Sept. 5 will require the team to hit the ground running as they face seven out of the top 25 teams in the preseason ranking in their first eight games.
“In all honesty, I have never, in all my 30 years of experience, played or seen a schedule like this,” said women’s volleyball coach, Chris Catanach. “For this tournament in Colorado, you usually tell them the teams that you want to play and they schedule maybe one or two of those teams. This time, they gave us all of the teams we requested.”
Despite this ambitious schedule, the team finds value in the fact that they will have the ability to see early on what they need to work on in order to succeed in the conference this year.
“This is a heavily experienced team with a lot of returning players,” Catanach said.
“Our goal is to know where we are compared to the best teams in the country, and what we need to do to win this national championship.”
While much of the team consists of returning players, seven new players have been added to the roster: transfers Ana Maria Pagan and Kim Valverde, as well as freshmen Molly McAlvany, Kasey Reynolds, Kelsey Watts, Savannah Oaks and Jen Aprile. These players pose a promising addition for the team as they head into the season seated number two in the preseason polls.
“The freshmen and transfers have been working very hard in practice to challenge us older players and make us better,” said Berkley Whaley, junior outside hitter. “They will benefit our team because they are filling some gaps in the roster that we lost the previous year.”
With their sights set high on a national championship, the team is looking to take one step at a time and focus first on being the top team in the region. To do this, they must hold their own in the conference play; which shouldn’t be difficult as they have remained undefeated in the conference tournament for two years.
“Our goal is to win a national championship, but first, we want to host the regional tournament,” Catanach said.
“To do that, we need to be the top team in the region. As soon as we finish this preseason tournament, we go right into conference play. Our goal is not to remain undefeated, but we do have to watch out for the teams who make it their goal to knock us off.”
The team is not expecting anything to be handed to them in their pursuit for a national championship.
In fact, they hold every game in the same regard: as a new challenge that they must overcome through hard work and persistence.
“Tampa volleyball has been a force for many years, so we always have a target on our back,” Whaley said. “There are no ‘easy games’ for us to just slack off and relax. We have to play each opponent the same, no breaks.”
With the obvious skill and drive to succeed, the ultimate challenge will be to create a team bond that can withstand the pressures of heavy competition.
“Our goal is a big one, but I wouldn’t say it’s a goal if it wasn’t possible,” Whaley said. “We have a ton of talent, we just need to put it all together. I think this year more than ever, we all understand the ultimate goal, and we’re all on the same page about what to expect and what we have to put into the program.”
Tess Sheets can be reached at therese.sheets@spartans.ut.edu