The Metropolitan Online » Volleyball

Recruits highlight volleyball offseason

Matt Hollinshead — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:50:29 +0000

After playing to a 26-8 record in 2009, including 14-5 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, the Metro volleyball team is preparing for the fall 2010 season. From signing new recruits to getting back into game shape, the team is doing everything possible this offseason to be ready to go.

“Right now, with the athletes, we’re kind of hands off until they arrive from preseason practice,” Head Coach Debbie Hendricks said. “We’re doing things like getting our travel arrangements made, equipment purchased. [We’re] planning and preparing for the things we want to emphasize with the players we have this year and how we want to train.”

Some of the players have already gotten a head start in training for the upcoming season.

“This offseason, I got a personal trainer,” junior outside hitter Bri Morley said. “I’m just trying to get stronger.”

Even though most of the players from last season will be coming back, Metro recruited five players, including four freshmen, to fill vacant holes on the team.

“I think it’s a good freshmen class,” Hendricks said of the new recruits. “I think that, as with all freshman, they’ll have a lot to learn. Every single one of these kids are coming from good high school and club programs, programs that they’ve been well-trained, they’re used to winning. They’re going to contribute a lot.”

Senior right-side hitter Lisa Jones also has expectations out of the new freshmen class.

“I expect them to work hard [and] be proud to be a Metro State Roadrunner,” she said. “I kind of expect them to know what they’re coming into.”

Jones, who will be one of two seniors this season, plans to step into a leadership role on the team.

“I expect us to be pretty good,” she said. “We should be first or second in [the] conference. We’re working hard right now to get to it.”

Even though junior libero Ngoc Phan appears to be the likely candidate to replace Amy Watanabe at libero, but there’s no guarantee.

“It’s an open competition,” Hendricks said about the starting libero position. “Ngoc has the most experience in our system. She trained with Amy [and] she understands what the expectations are of that position. I think she will be the natural [choice], [but] I think competition is always good and keeps everyone performing at the highest level possible.”

The new freshmen not only add talent, but also depth to Metro. Despite having to restock in certain positions, Metro looks to continue its success under Hendricks.

“We grow every year,” Morley said. “You go through different scenarios, different challenges. It should be a good year.”

With a fresh new season coming up, as well as some fresh new faces, the team has a lot to look forward to.

“[We want] to continue to grow, maximize what we have talent-wise, team-wise [and] playing-wise,” Morley said. “I think if we’re going to win nationals, it’ll be the year to do it.”

Volleyball adds four to 2010 roster

Matt Hollinshead — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:16:27 +0000

The Metro volleyball team recently added four new players for the 2010-2011 season.

Libero Alex Green from Peoria, Ariz., setter Sarah McGaffin of Phoenix and former University of Wyoming libero Nikky Sapp, an Arvada native, join Kayla Collier-Vigil, a Highlands Ranch native, in the 2010 recruiting class.

Volleyball Head Coach Debbie Hendricks addresses her team during a home game at the Auraria Event Center. Photo courtesy of the Metro Athletic Department

“Other than the fact that it’s close to home, they have a really good, strong volleyball program,” Collier-Vigil said. “I [also] have a lot of family that lives here, so I just wanted to stay close [to them].

“I’ve lived in Colorado most of my life. I went to ThunderRidge High School and I’ve played volleyball since I was nine. I’m really excited for next year.”

Collier-Vigil, who signed with Metro in November, also apparently has a deceptive appearance on the volleyball court.

“I’m kind of the person that looks like the underdog,” Collier-Vigil said. “I [also] have a really strong attitude, a lot of endurance and power.”

The recruits will add plenty of depth to a team who will be without outside hitter Amanda Cook, setter Gabe Curtis and libero Amy Watanabe, all of whom were seniors last season.

Green, who led Cactus High School (Arizona) in her four-year tenure there, won numerous awards last season, namely 2009 region player of the year, first team All-Arizona and first team All-West Valley. Green, 5’8”, has a calm presence on the court and interacts well with teammates.

“I’m just a really hard worker and I’ll just do whatever [I’m told],” Green said. “I’m [also] pretty flexible. So, whatever they tell me [to do], I’ll just do it.”

Green also explained what factored into her decision to join the Roadrunners.

“Our recruiting person for our [volleyball] club was her (Coach Hendricks) former player,” new libero Alex Green said. “So, she said that she’s awesome. I was like ‘okay.’”

McGaffin, 5’11”, led Horizon High School (Arizona) to the Class 5A state title this past fall and was named back-to-back All-Arizona 5A and all-region three years in a row. As a starter in her four years at Horizon, McGaffin had 2,235 set assists, 1,491 digs, 684 kills, 197 service aces and 180.

“I really like their program,” she said. “The girls are really nice, and their volleyball program is really successful.”

McGaffin also explained what led up to her volleyball career.

“I have three brothers, so I’ve grown up playing a lot of sports with them,” she said. “I enjoy playing volleyball.”

Sapp, a 5’3” libero, transferred to Metro from the University of Wyoming, where she received limited action on the court, appearing in only 27 sets with 19 digs, but had a .902 serve receive percentage with only five errors in 51 attempts. Sapp, a 2008 Pamona High School graduate, was a four-year letter winner and three-time all-conference honoree.

After finishing last year’s campaign with a 26-8 overall record, including 14-5 in the RMAC, Metro looks to build on last year’s successful 2009-2010 season with a new look on the court.

Men’s volleyball splits first tournament

Josiah Kaan — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:05:22 +0000

Metro – Tie For 3rd Place

The Metro men’s club volleyball team competed in their first tournament of the year Jan. 17 at Chaparral High School in Parker.

Head Coach Gavin Markovits said the team did better than he had expected, tying for third place at the USA Volleyball Rocky Mountain Regional Tournament.

Metro’s Alex Johnson in a mid-air battle during a match against the Colorado Masters at Chapparel High School Jan. 17. Metro lost the match 13-15 after going 3-5 in eight games. Photo by Sean Mullins • smullin5@mscd.edu

“I think that we actually played better than I had expected,” Markovits said. “I thought we’d be a little bit more green, and a little bit more inconsistent.”

The RMR tournament was a round robin tournament consisting of team pools made up of five adult teams. The five teams in each pool play each other, with the top three teams from each pool advancing to a playoff round. The Metro team was the only school team competing at the tournament, Markovits said.

“This was just all other adult teams,” Markovits said. “Usually we’ll see Mines or we might see a club team from CSU or Mesa or something, but they were not in this tournament.”

Out of four games, the team finished with two wins and an accompanying two losses earning them a tie for third place.

“I feel like it was a pretty good result for us, considering it was our first tournament of the year,” Markovits said.

This is the first time that the club team competed after practicing all fall semester, and Markovits said that the strength of the team lies within its youth.

“I think we’re physical,” Markovits said. “I think we’re a pretty athletic team and we’re young, so that helps. We’re playing against a lot of adults who maybe aren’t as physical or athletic as we are. So I think that’s something, definitely, that is our strong suite.”

Not only was the RMR tournament a chance for the team to compete with each other for the first time, but Markovits said it gave the young players some good experience for the future.

“We have four or five freshmen on the court, so I felt like it was a good stepping stone for us, you know, for further tournaments,” Markovits said.

Throughout the tournament, veteran leadership from outside hitter Chris Dumville gave the team a valuable element of consistency.

“Chris Dumville played really well,” Markovits said. “He’s an outside hitter that returned from last year, so he’s playing for us again this year. He’s probably our most consistent hitter and overall player.”

With the leadership of Dumville helping to guide the young players, the team continued to improve throughout the tournament.

“I think we came together as a team and started to compete pretty well,” Markovits said. “I think we got better every match, for the most part, and I think that’s what you hope to do as a coach.”

The team made significant strides of improvement on their way to a third place tie, but there are still elements of the game that they need to work on.

“I think we can find a little bit more diverse of an offense, I think we’re pretty basic right now,” Markovits said. “Those are definitely two things that we’re going to work on here in the near future.”

Although the team does not have an official schedule, Markovits said they are getting ready to compete for the second time this season Feb. 21.

‘Runners fall to Concordia in playoffs

Enrico Dominguez — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:39:31 +0000

Metro 3 – SWMS 2

Metro 3 – Minn. Duluth 0

Metro 0 – Concordia-St. Paul 3

The Metro women’s volleyball season came to an abrupt end Nov. 21 against No. 1 NCAA-ranked Concordia-St. Paul; on a 70-match winning streak, in the NCAA Central Region championship match. The women’s team ended the season with an incredible record of 26-8, winning the last 13-of-14 matches.

The match began with a slow start in the first set, trailing early 6-1. But the ’Runners quickly found a groove to cut the lead to 17-16 after three straight kills from outside hitter Emily Greenhalgh, middle blocker Julie Causseaux, and outside hitter Bri Morley.

Concordia quickly regrouped, taking a 20-17 lead but Metro fired back — scoring five of the next six points to cut the lead to 22-21. Concordia, after a timeout, came back and forced two attack errors on their way to a 25-23 victory.

CCU outside hitter Brooke Whittmayer hits the ball past Metro middle blocker Anna Mapes (left), and outside hitter Emily Greenhalgh (right), Nov. 7 in Lakewood. The Roadrunners lost to Concordia-St. Paul Nov. 21 in the regional championship in Minnesota. File photo by Taryn Jones • tjone101@mscd.edu

The second set was even-keeled with the score 14-12 midway through until Concordia caught fire, scoring the next four-of-five points to make the score 18-13. Metro fired back sporadically, but was unable to catch up as Concordia scored the last four-of-five points for the 25-17 victory.

The final set was dominated by the Golden Bears with Metro scoring almost minimally for a final set score of 25-15 for the match victory.

Metro hit a .171, while CSPU hit a .352. Morley had 11 kills and seven digs; setter Gabe Curtis served up 26 assists, seven digs, four kills and two blocks. Libero Amy Watanabe backed them up with a match-high 18 digs.

“We are very optimistic,” Head coach Debbie Hendricks said about next year. “We are obviously going to miss those three seniors a lot. They each bring very special qualities to our team, and contributed a lot to our success this year.”

Metro started the playoffs on a roll beating two top-15 teams in a row, proving to onlookers they deserved to be ranked among the best in the nation. They began with a five-match win over Southwest Minnesota University Nov. 19th in St. Paul, Minn.

The team continued their hot streak with a win over their next top-15 ranked opponent, Minnesota Duluth, in three sets. The women held Duluth to an .088 hitting percentage while hitting .278.

Watanabe ended her last match with 18 digs making her the match leader, and Curtis ended the match with 26 assists, seven digs, four kills, and two blocks.

Middle blocker Anna Mapes, who did not play against Concordia, set a new Metro single season-high hitting percentage, hitting at .396 on the season.

Watanabe stands as Metro’s all-time digs leader with 1,640 career digs. Curtis took the second all-time in assists with 3,331 in her career at Metro, and fifth in assists per set at 10.96.

“Its an honor,” Watanabe said. “It shows that all your hard work and commitment to the program pays off eventually.”

Metro also had four players named to the Central Region All-Tournament Team, which were Watanabe, Curtis, Morley and Causseaux.