Volleyball team makes progress

The Eagle volleyball team finished their spring season last Friday; a season which Head Volleyball Coach, Janel Baily deemed successful.

Baily was hired this spring as the new head volleyball coach after working as the interim head coach for the 2012-2013 season. The volleyball team began practicing on March, 18. They had 24 practices for the players to improve both individually and as a team, Baily said.

She expressed great optimism about her team as they prepare for the upcoming season.

“Overall this spring has been very successful as far as getting the girls faster and stronger and improving techniques on the court,” she said. “We’ve broken a lot of things down for them and have given the girls a ton of reps to create good habits.”

The spring is a time for younger players to gain experience, and all the girls worked hard and have shown improvement,” Baily said.

“Shannon Durck, who medically redshirted in the fall, has established herself as a major contender for outside hitter,” Baily said.

Baily commented that several veteran players have improved this spring as well.

“Erika Roybal and Jessica Jester have really taken on leadership roles and have improved greatly in their respective positions,” she said.

She also noted that Barbie DeCent, 22, junior of Paxton, has worked hard this spring and blossomed into a dominating player.

Baily mentioned that the end of spring marked the beginning of summer training. Involvement between coaches and players is limited during the summer months, so they are given workouts to follow over the summer.

“As a fall sport, the work they put in over the summer will make or break our season,” she said. “I make sure they understand that and are motivated to continue with our lifting and conditioning program so that when we report in August we can focus on getting on the court and not just trying to get them in shape.”

Baily expressed high expectations for her team this fall.

“I expect to be much more competitive in pre-season tournaments and conference play. We will have a lot of new faces on the team and with that comes new team dynamics,” she said. “My biggest expectation is that they grow together as a team while fostering the competitiveness within so that they will be able to translate that into competing extremely hard against other teams.”

The new recruiting class also provides Baily with high hopes for the team.

“We have some very talented ladies coming who are hungry for starting time,” she said.

Baily mentioned that she hopes they take time to prepare over the summer and come into the fall dedicated and motivated to improve.