Spring Break
Column: Forgetting a bad year in volleyball
Bob Bajek / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: Sports
The Eastern volleyball team didn't envision the 2008 season would go this bad.
The team set a low in victories (5), conference wins (2) and dropped 34-straight sets.
After beginning the season 3-3, losing streaks of 11 and nine matches were ended with victories against 2007 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Champion Tennessee State, who is only a shadow of last year's team.
The offense could not find a consistent rhythm as freshman setter Hannah Deterding was learning a new system while the hitters adjusted to her style after playing with former setter Maren Crabtree. Eastern had 667 less kills from 2007 while having 16 matches with 31 kills or less.
It did not help having injuries to key returning players.
2007 All-OVC Newcomer performer sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler suffered an abdominal tear and played through a stress fracture in her left leg that was re-aggravated from last year. Sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Orr also gutted out matches with an injured right shoulder that required a cortisone shot, which would help during Friday matches but wore off by Saturday. Junior libero Shaina Boylan missed more than a month with mono. Assistant head coach Amy Schreiber said not having Boylan early in the campaign affected a young defense by playing without an experienced veteran.
The serve-receive offense needs to be perfected. Eastern committed 173 serve-receive errors. Schreiber said she will work on the women's footwork and posture for more consistency.
"People were unhappy, but we're committed to this," Orr said. "Yeah, there is frustration and there's talk, but girls still want to be a part of this."
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.
The team set a low in victories (5), conference wins (2) and dropped 34-straight sets.
After beginning the season 3-3, losing streaks of 11 and nine matches were ended with victories against 2007 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Champion Tennessee State, who is only a shadow of last year's team.
The offense could not find a consistent rhythm as freshman setter Hannah Deterding was learning a new system while the hitters adjusted to her style after playing with former setter Maren Crabtree. Eastern had 667 less kills from 2007 while having 16 matches with 31 kills or less.
It did not help having injuries to key returning players.
2007 All-OVC Newcomer performer sophomore outside hitter Alex Zwettler suffered an abdominal tear and played through a stress fracture in her left leg that was re-aggravated from last year. Sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Orr also gutted out matches with an injured right shoulder that required a cortisone shot, which would help during Friday matches but wore off by Saturday. Junior libero Shaina Boylan missed more than a month with mono. Assistant head coach Amy Schreiber said not having Boylan early in the campaign affected a young defense by playing without an experienced veteran.
The serve-receive offense needs to be perfected. Eastern committed 173 serve-receive errors. Schreiber said she will work on the women's footwork and posture for more consistency.
"People were unhappy, but we're committed to this," Orr said. "Yeah, there is frustration and there's talk, but girls still want to be a part of this."
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story