Volleyball to prepare in northwest
By Jackson Morgus
The NCAA stipulations allow for fall sports teams, like the Santa Clara women's volleyball team, to get a start on next year's season by conducting official practices during the spring term. This year, the Broncos are trying to step up their spring workouts by staging a pair of exhibition games against the University of Washington this May, in addition to their team workouts.
The Broncos will play two games in Seattle at the University of Washington, and two at the Leavey Center on Friday, May 7 at 7 p.m, and Saturday, May 8 at 1 p.m. These games will be open to spectators who want to get a glimpse of the 2010 volleyball team, and admission to the games will be free.
In addition to the four games, the Broncos will have a couple of mixed practices with the Huskies, which is indicative of the educational spirit of these games.
"We will be training against a good team, which will let our younger girls learn about a program that has been at the highest level," said Santa Clara's Head Coach Jon Wallace.
Washington's program is one that Santa Clara will look to emulate. The Huskies are a perennial national championship contender, and advanced as far as the second round of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament in 2009.
The games will be friendly in spirit, but competitive in nature, according to Wallace, who shares UC Santa Barbara roots with much of the Washington coaching staff.
"We have been talking about getting together, and it just worked out for both parties," said Coach Wallace.
The games will come at the tail end of the volleyball squad's spring training regimen.
Coach Wallace wants to evaluate where his team is during the competition, and hopes they can get a good result from the games, but winning and performance will be largely secondary to improving as a team in the context of spring workouts.
"We will probably play at a little bit lower speed because we have been going full speed with our strength and conditioning program right up to the games, something that we wouldn't be doing during our regular fall schedule," said Wallace.
As for the rest of the spring training, Wallace's team has been able to form a solid unit for most of the spring. Between seven and nine of the players that Wallace expects to be starting next year are taking part.
"We have been working with a sports psychologist, and our team chemistry is really good," Wallace added.
The main issue faced by any team in offseason training for a season to be played in the next academic year is that the 2010 squad has yet to come together. Still, Wallace thinks that they have done well building teamwork without the class of 2014 present. In fact, two of the missing pieces are not freshmen that will come in, but rather junior Krista Kelly and current freshman Lexi Williams, who have been unable to participate due to injury.
The fall season may seem to be a ways off, but thanks to such a productive spring season among their own team, and a competitive twist, the Broncos volleyball team looks to be ready to go come fall.
Contact Jackson Morgus at jmorgus@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.