SMSU VOLLEYBALL: Another quest begins
Mustangs start the season in search of another NCAA?Tournament
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By Sam Thiel
sthiel@marshallindependent.com
MARSHALL - Whether it was the squeaking of shoes on the hardwood floors of the PE Gym or the crisp, new uniforms worn by its players, all the sights and sounds were on hand at Tuesday's practice for the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team.
Another season for the Mustangs is officially underway, and senior outside hitter Taylor Reiss is ready to be back on the court.
"It feels really good," Reiss said about coming into her final season. "It feels good to be back with all of the returners and having the freshmen here and be able to actually start playing with them as a team."
The Mustangs recorded another strong season last year, posting an overall record of 29-4 and reaching the NCAA Central Region semifinals before falling to University of Minnesota Duluth. This season, SMSU will look to make its 15th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
SMSU coach Terry Culhane said the beginning of a new season is a fun and exciting time and is ready to get another year going. Culhane is entering his 15th season with the Mustangs.
"It's always an exciting and fun time to start a season and wondering what you're going to be able to get done. You're also knowing what you have to do and have to be able to ask hard questions like 'Can we stay healthy?', 'Can so-and-so play as well as they did last year?', or 'Are there any young kids you can count on?', that type of stuff," Culhane said. "I think that's the fun part of coaching, every season is new, even if you have the same players back. You have different approaches and different attitudes. I'm excited; I like our team and I think it's got the possibility of being a really solid group."
SMSU will be led once again by Reiss and fellow senior outside hitter Kaylee Burmeister. Reiss ended last season with 605 total kills (second in Division II), including 5.69 kills per set which was good for third in the nation. Burmeister led the team in digs with 375 and had a hitting percentage of .229, including averaging just over three kills per set.
Also among those returning are sophomore middle blocker Sarina Smith and junior libero/defensive specialist Erin Corrigan. In her freshman season, Smith ranked fourth on the team in kills with 264 while leading in total blocks with 108. She said she's worked on improving her strength and quickness at the net during the offseason and hopes to play at a more consistent level on the court.
"Coming into freshman year, I hadn't really lifted a whole lot, so during the offseason we really worked on strength as well as quickness when attacking and blocking," Smith said. "I think it's just about being consistent when I'm out there. I think last year as a freshman I would let my nerves get the best of me and I think this year having one year under my belt will help control the nerves."
Corrigan, meanwhile, returns as key back row player after recording 309 digs as a sophomore.
SMSU will also have a handful of new faces on the court this season, with six freshmen bolstering the roster. Joining the Mustangs are libero/defensive specialists Sydney Omtvedt and Madi Heaney, right side Meg Schmidt, setter Sariah Naea and outside hitters Lexi Ferrell and Marissa Thompson.
Sophomore setter Emma Thomssen said she's ready to work with her new teammates and is excited to see what they bring to the table.
"It's great; I'm really excited to work with a new group of girls and a new team and just excited for practices and getting to the season," Thomssen said. "They definitely bring all six different personalities and six different levels of play and different kinds of style. If we can feed off of that, they can help us learn new things and also we can help them along the way."
Rounding out the roster for SMSU includes junior Jenna Walczak and sophomores Payton Hjerleid, Caedyn Reinhardt, Zoe Lier and Angela Young. Culhane said they're going to be relying on the younger class to step up and make an impact.
"I think in our sophomore class we have two kids who played a lot last year, so that will be helpful. They're all a year older and hopefully a year better and can put themselves in a position of possibly playing. We've always been comfortable playing first-year players if we think they can contribute, and I think we could have a couple of those that could find themselves in that position to help play on our team," Culhane said. "It's hard because we haven't seen enough of it yet, but there's just a lot of hard-nosed competition that's going on in practice. They'll get chances to see who's better and that's always fun because whoever earns the right to be on the floor gets to play."
The Mustangs will have some key spots to fill in their rotation this fall, as setter Megan Larson, libero Greta Geist and middle blocker Brooke Borchardt all graduated. Thomssen will take over for Larson, but Culhane said it's still early to figure out some other positions.
"Anytime you lose a player like Megan Larson when she basically set for us for four years, that's a hard replacement. It's no different when we lose Taylor and Kaylee next year; you're counting on those kids all the time because they've been there all the time," Culhane said. "For Emma, it'll be a learning process but I think she's ready to take over that setting position and she will benefit from having good hitters to set to and I think we will handle the ball better than we did last year, which is always nice in volleyball. I think that the libero position is open right now to a few different kids and you never quite know what freshman are going to do. You may think when you recruit them that this kid is going to play but the reality of it is if they can't handle it and the stage gets too big, then someone else is going to have to do it."
One area SMSU was particularly strong again in was their offensive attack. Last season, the Mustangs ranked first in all of Division II in both hitting percentage (.290) and kills per set (15.2) as well as ninth in total kills (1,798). Culhane said in order to see that level of success at the net, it'll start with their defensive and passing prowess so they can create offensive opportunities for their hitters.
"I think we need to be productive with our outsides in Taylor and Kaylee. Brooke Borchardt had a great year last year as a senior, so we need another middle pick up her spot and then we need to have more of a presence from the right front. That all comes if we can pass the ball; if we can pass a little easier, we have more options to actually use than if we don't pass the ball. If our setter's running all over the place, then that's usually not a good sign," Culhane said. "I think those will be important things for us and then I think we need to be a better defensive team than a year ago. I thought that got in the way of our play at the end of the season is I just didn't think we played as hard as the other teams were playing."
SMSU will begin its season on the road, travelling to Pensacola, Florida, for the West Florida Invitational on Aug. 24-25 before heading West to Denver, Colorado, to play in the Colorado Premier Challenge on Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Last season, the Mustangs won all of its matches in both tournaments before going undefeated the entire month of September.
Reiss said it'll be important for their team to have another strong start because it can have a big impact on the importance of games later on in the season.
"I think it'll be really important; I think our conference is a really tough conference and anything you do from that point on could affect where you end up whether it comes to the conference or regional tournament," Reiss said. "From the beginning, we have to be really focused because you never know losing one of those games how it could affect you towards the end of the season."
Before they get going with competition, however, the Mustangs will have a couple of weeks to work on their fundamentals. Culhane said getting an earlier start than last year will be beneficial in that they don't have to rush their gameplan each day and let players develop.
"Having two-a-days at this point will be helpful because we have more time with us starting a week earlier. We don't have to rush everything whereas last year we felt we had to get into team stuff right away and then get polished for tournament play because we only had one week of two-a-days," Culhane said. "We're just trying to make sure our younger players understand what's expected of them and how they need to approach it. Hopefully we can spend some time on fundamentals and not worry too much about trying to win matches at this point."
Once matches begin, Burmeister said they're looking forward to maintaining a high level of competition and playing for each other and their fans.
"Just working together competitively and having a good year and getting to that conference tournament and working for every single match because every match matters in this conference and this region," Burmeister said. "I think we're just looking forward to playing for each other and playing for our alumni and our team."