The Virginia volleyball team will take the court at Memorial Gymnasium Friday for the first time this season after an offseason of upheaval. Following a 10-20 campaign a year ago that included a dismal 4-16 ACC record, the Cavaliers (1-2, 0-0 ACC) hope to create more change by season’s end, especially in the standings.
The biggest shift came with the introduction of Dennis Hohenshelt as the team’s new head coach Jan. 26. Hohenshelt arrives from Penn State, where he was an assistant coach for the Nittany Lion women, helping win four consecutive national championships along the way. Before coaching the women’s team at Penn State, Hohenshelt spent 10 years as an assistant for the men’s squad, claiming the national title in 2006.
Hohenshelt comes from a culture of winning and wants to bring some of the same approaches that paid dividends at Penn State into the Virginia program. Hohenshelt’s plan starts with two core principles: practicing hard and respecting the game.
“Those groups in that streak when we won it [at Penn State], every day when they came to practice those girls worked hard, not just in the gym but in the weight room as well,” Hohenshelt said. “That’s the one thing I think we’ve gotten through to [this team] pretty fast. Every touch of the ball could be your last.”
Virginia hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2008, former head coach Lee Maes’ first season with the Cavaliers. Despite bringing in the first two nationally ranked recruiting classes in Virginia history, Maes was not able to convert his success away from the court into successes on it.
Last year’s disappointing record has left captain Jessica O’Shoney and her fellow seniors with one more chance to leave their mark on the program.
“The past three years have been up and down, so going out, the fourth-year class just wants to leave a solid legacy of what’s to come in the future,” O’Shoney said. “It’s the first building block for the program to keep getting better.”
The transition to a new coaching staff has been smoother than most of the players expected, as they are all getting along well with Hohenshelt and his assistant coaches, Aaron Smith and Stevie Mussie. His personality and style of coaching have been readily accepted by a team eager to turn around its fortunes.
“Dennis brings a lot of positivity, which we needed, and he really pumps us up,” said junior captain Emily Rottman, “We want to work hard for him, and he’s always telling us the right things. He makes us want to get better.”
Another important source of improvement for the program is the newcomers who will don uniforms this season. The team welcomes five new freshmen, filling out almost one third of the roster.
“Each of them plays a very big role in our entire lineup, so it’s important that they keep trying their hardest and working hard,” Rottman said. “They’re getting better each day, which helps our lineup a lot.”
The most immediate concern for the team’s new players will be replacing Simone Asque. Asque, who graduated last year, was a force at outside hitter and was named to the All-East Region team twice. She also led Virginia in kills last year. She was considered by many teammates to be the emotional leader of the team, even as it trudged through three consecutive losing seasons.
Hohenshelt knows it isn’t easy to simply replace a star player and won’t ask for any one player to step up and fill Asque’s large shoes.
“I can’t expect a first-year to get five kills a game. It’s an unrealistic thing,” Hohenshelt said. “If I can tell her, ‘Hey, I need you to get three,’ and then maybe Jess O’Shoney or the older kids can take one and one, then we make up our five.”
The Cavaliers host Lehigh, Delaware and Western Kentucky in the Holiday Inn Jefferson Cup this weekend. The team started its season last weekend at the Rocky Mountain Invite in Fort Collins, Col. The Cavaliers dropped games against Colorado State and Denver but defeated Rhode Island 3-0. For the tournament, O’Shoney led the team in attack percentage at .283. Sophomore setter Tori Janowski led the team in kills with 29, including a double-double in kills and assists against Rhode Island. She was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“All of us learned that, in order to compete with any team in the country, ranked or not ranked, we need to compete for every point and just go hard all of the time,” Janowski said.
Hohenshelt, however, wants to do more than just compete with other teams.
“I want to win every match, and if that happens great,” Hohenshelt said. “If it doesn’t, we need to figure out why we didn’t win the match. If you don’t want that, then you shouldn’t be playing volleyball here.”
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