Normally when a team gets a new coach, that coach needs some time to successfully apply his or her new philosophy to the team dynamic. That has not been the case for the Virginia women’s volleyball program this year.
The Cavaliers are 7-2 under first-year head coach Lee Maes and won the Marriott Jefferson Cup, hosted in Charlottesville, last week without dropping a single set to the competition.
“The system’s a lot more intense, and so is Lee, but he’s a very technical coach which is what we needed,” sophomore right-side hitter Kendahl Voelker said. “As long as we’re disciplined technically, which, he’s given us that, then we’ll definitely be able to be more successful. Our system I think is very successful, more so than last year, because he is such a technical coach.”
Virginia has one final tournament, the Northwestern Tournament hosted by Northwestern University, before ACC play begins. The team will use this as an opportunity to fix some flaws in its game.
“We’ve been really inconsistent with efficiency, and it was really evident in hitting percentage,” Maes said. “We know that our opportunities become less and less the more we play, and so we really are ... trying to focus on daily improvement and focusing on valuing every point we play, because that’s going to affect how many opportunities we have left to apply what we learned.”
A crucial component to the system is the play of junior outside hitter Lauren Dickson and senior outside hitter Beth Shelton. A big addition to the line is freshman outside hitter Simone Asque, who has 30 kills and notched her first career start in the tournament. Dickson has recorded 101 kills on the season, and Shelton has 68. A stalwart on the front line, Dickson has also taken on a leadership role this season.
“The thing that we rely on from Lauren is to provide consistency in all facets of the game,” Maes said.
Dickson, however, is quick to give all the credit to the play of her teammates.
“I think everyone’s doing an all-around good job,” she said. “The middles are holding blockers, making it easier for me. I don’t think there’s any sort of magic.”
One player upon whom the outside hitters rely heavily is senior middle blocker Shannon Davis, who was MVP of the Marriott Jefferson Cup. The new system calls for a lot of communication when setting up to defend the opponent’s serve or attack.
“I think it’s just a matter of us getting on the same page,” Davis said. “We have a lot being asked of us and we can definitely do it. It’s just, you know, if we’re rotating here or rotating there, it’s just all playing cohesively the most.”
Playing cohesively will be the key to success for the Cavaliers, who are poised to take on No. 4 UCLA Friday in their first match of the Northwestern Tournament. Fundamentally sound play and communication between the players could lead to an upset for Virginia, and Maes believes his girls have what it takes.
“UCLA’s a very good team, but we still know that the game of volleyball is still pass, set, hit, block, dig, transition, set, cover,” he said.
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