A reinvigorated Elon University women’s volleyball team will be stepping onto the court this season — hoping for a better result than last season.
The team, led by head coach Mary Tendler, ended last season with a 5-22 record. With six new additions to the program last year, inexperience was one of many pitfalls the team faced throughout the season. The players’ inexperience in the tough environment of college athletics was clear with the team going 0-11 at away games.
However, Tendler doesn’t think that will be as much of a problem since those freshmen will now have the experience needed to find success.
“The experience from last fall is going to help us this fall,” Tendler said. “I think we'll have a different demeanor and just a different level of confidence going in.”
According to Tendler, the team’s ability to succeed this year will be aided by a good balance of youth and experience. The team has six seniors or graduate students, along with four freshmen.
Tendler said this veteran presence will help guide the freshmen along.
“They've been through the ups and the downs, and they have that experience to help lead,” Tendler said. “They're the ones that will mentor the younger ones coming in, and they're setting the example.”
Although the six new additions to the team this year cover a wide range of positions, Tendler said she is especially excited to see how their new setters perform. Freshman Kayla Palmer and graduate student transfer from the University of North Carolina Wilmington Annabelle Schall will be joining Elon as setters this year.
Schall is coming off a fourth year at UNCW where she managed to get a team-high 618 assists and 5.94 assists per set.
Tendler said she wants to make sure the team’s new setters develop a connection with the hitters right away in August.
The Phoenix feel good coming into the season off a productive spring training session, according to Tendler. She said they improved their serve-receive game, and changed their offense slightly.
“We got a little more versatile in our offense so we can run some different things that we weren't running last fall, and we won't be as predictable,” Tendler said.
The team will be led by two team captains, graduate student Abigail Sparkman and senior Sydney Love.
Despite this only being Sparkman’s second year at Elon, she has quickly gained the respect of her teammates.
“She got voted by her teammates to be captain after only being here a short time as a transfer student, but she's worked so hard and you can tell that she wants to be a part of a winning team,” Tendler said.
Love is a returning team captain and has built off her leadership skills from last year by completing Elon’s Leadership Academy run by Elon Athletics. Tendler said she believes her leadership ability will be a great asset to the team.
“I've already seen her leadership develop as she has gone through the process and she's finding her voice more and she's not afraid to say anything to the team that's needed, which is really key,” Tendler said.
Love led the team last season with 230 kills and 2.88 kills per set. Love also notched double-digit kills in 14 matches, including a career-high 18 kills against College of Charleston.
Love has been improving her game in the offseason. Love — who is typically a hitter — said she has been focusing her attention on her serve so she can be a rotational player that can help in the front and back row of the court.
Love said the biggest hurdle for the team to overcome this year is making sure they have the right mindset going into the season.
“I just don't want people going into the game with that mindset ‘we almost lost every game last season,’” Love said. “It’s a new season, we are all coming in as new players, we've learned so much since last fall, and now let's put it to use and get rid of our thoughts of last season.”
Love said she believes that much of their struggles last year stem from being unable to get out of a poor mindset that came about when playing difficult teams. Love said everyone has great individual skills, but they need to have the right mentality and be able to put the skills together as a whole team.
According to Love, creating a tougher mentality this season will require improved communication within the team.
“I think we need to figure out communication among each other, and just understand that people are going to have off-days and no one can be upset with that,” Love said. “I think it's just more being open with each other and talking about things and saying, ‘Hey, I'm struggling, I need your help.”’
Love said this open communication can be achieved through her role as team captain.
“I feel like no one should feel unheard and I just want everybody to have that fair opportunity to go about feeling comfortable playing not only in practice, but also in games,” Love said.
The Phoenix started their season by playing in the Wildcat Classic at Davidson College, losing all three matches. Elon continues their season against Murray State University on Sept. 6 at Schar Center.