With the loss of five seniors there will be new leadership, new competition and a whole new look to the Lady Bisons volleyball team this year. However, players and coaches are excited for the season and the new freshman.
“Anytime you lose five seniors and bring in five freshman you’re going to have that,” said Lady Bisons coach Brandon Rosenthal. “I am very impressed with our freshman and all five of them [showed up] in great shape, worked hard and a couple of them are competing for starting spots.”
Coach Rosenthal thinks that his team had a very good preseason and that their first couple weeks on the floor were “tremendous.” “
Friday August 28, 2011. University of Houston, Houston , TX. Lipscomb University Volleyball v. Xavier. Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup. Jon Eilts — .
“There was competitiveness and it was tooth and nail everyday,” he said. “I really liked what I saw.”
The team kicked off the season at the “Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup” last weekend and lost three tough matches to Xavier (3-0), Houston (3-0) and Central Arkansas (3-2). While the scores of the Xavier and Houston matches were both 3-0, the games were very close with most of them being won by no more than two or three points.
Junior Kaycee Green, who started all 31 matches for the Lady Bisons last season, is looking forward to the new look of this team on and off the court.
“I feel like we are more connected as a team on and off the court,” said Green. “We rely on everyone’s effort and not just two or three people. This year we will need everyone on and off the court to support one another to get the wins.”
Coach Rosenthal agrees with his outside hitter.
“The Freshman have been here since July 4th and that showed on the strength and conditioning side of it,” he said. “I think just the familiarity with each other helped out quite a bit. A neat aspect of our program is that we are going to lay it all out there and put the best six or seven people out on the floor.”
With five seniors graduating last spring, the team will look to rely on many different players to get the job done.
“Our play will be different this year,” Green said. “We will still have the intensity of the past seasons but this year we have multiple options for each position and everyone will be contributing and it will be more of a team based effort.”
The team makes its home debut on Friday as the Bisons take on Tennessee Tech in Allen Arena at 12:30 p.m. However, Green is excited about two different conference opponents.
“This year I’m looking forward to playing ETSU and FGCU the most,” she said. “I want to play ETSU just because its always a good match and always gets super intense. FGCU’s team is supposed to be good this year with their ‘big hitter’ back and every time we play its a good match as well.”
In addition to the 12:30 game, the Lady Bisons will also play at 7:00 Friday night and 2:30 and 6:30 Saturday.
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