The Virginia women’s volleyball team finished up its final practice at Memorial Gymnasium Thursday morning. For the final 30 minutes, the team scrimmaged in what felt like a regular season game. Each side got loud for every point, jumping and diving like they were playing for something real. The team looked ready to take on the regular season.
“The whole team is super anxious to get started,” senior outside hitter Haley Kole said. “We’ve been working for it the past two weekends. The first-years are excited, maybe a little nervous, but I know all the upperclassmen are ready to get back in the gym and compete.”
The Cavaliers are in the middle of a youth movement. While the team returns nine letter-winners from last year’s squad, six freshmen will take the court this weekend for their first college matches.
“I wish I had another week with them, just with how young they are,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “I thought in the last six or seven days we made tremendous jumps in our game and where we’re going. We’ll have to learn some things on the fly this weekend, which is okay.”
Though most of the players are underclassmen with limited experience, Hohenshelt is confident that his senior leadership trio of Kole, defensive specialist Lexi Riccolo and outside hitter Jasmine Burton will be able to work out some kinks on the court.
“These three are going to handle a lot of load, not just playing wise, but coaching wise on the court,” Hohenshelt said. “They’ve been good with this group so far in preseason, and they’ll have to continue to do that.”
Riccolo seems confident that her new teammates will fit in just fine to the team dynamic as time goes on.
“They all have great personalities — they want to work hard,” she said. “A lot of it is on on us to help them out and give them tips because freshman mistakes are going to happen no matter what.”
Youth and inexperience do not deter Hohenshelt and his team from their ultimate goal as a program — to make the NCAA Tournament. The team has strung together a few consecutive winning seasons but acknowledges that to truly get over the hump as a program, they will have to make the end of the season tournament.
“It’s been our motivation the last three years that I’ve been here,” Kole said. “We get closer and closer every year and I hope that this year we can finally get that last push to overcome that hurdle. It opens up a whole new door for recruits and future aspirations that we have as a team.”
Riccolo pointed out that is has been almost 20 years since the Cavaliers have made the NCAA Tournament, so naturally with the recent success they have garnered, talk of finally reaching it again has surfaced. Even Hohenshelt admits that it crosses the coaches’ minds often.
“It’s something that we talk about as a staff,” he said. “With this group, I want to see improvement on the court first, and [the NCAA Tournament] is out there. There are six kids that still need to understand how the tournament works, and I’m going to let the leadership take care of that. I just want to be the best team we can be at the end of the year, and if we do that, I think we have a good shot at being in the tournament.”
While the big picture still looms over the team, the Cavaliers will focus on their first task on their quest for the tournament this weekend — the Cavalier Classic. The team will play three matches, starting with an 11:00 a.m. game against Buffalo Friday, at 7:00 p.m. against Northwestern later that night and a concluding 7:00 p.m. contest Saturday night against George Washington. All three matches will take place on the Cavaliers’ home court.
Kole acknowledges that getting off to a good start is crucial for the team.
“It’s super important,” she said. “It’s always nice to start off with three wins, especially in our home gym, to get us off on a good foot so we can push for the rest of the season.”
The Cavaliers will kick off what they hope will be a program-altering season this weekend, as veteran leaders and youthful newcomers look to hit the ground running on their home court.
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