DAYTON (OH) — I had a conversation this week with three great young women on the volleyball team, Amanda Cowdrey, Rachael Broerman and Jessica Yanz to discuss the upcoming season. I plan to have more of these interviews in the future. If there is a particular player you would like interviewed or a particular question you would like a player to be asked send me a private message through UD Pride. Thanks for taking the time ladies.

I have been a fan of the volleyball team for several years starting with the great Middle Blocker Faye Barhorst. Faye was a beast and it was unfortunate how her season and UD career ended.

Since Faye left the Flyers have always had an NCAA caliber team and reached the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last year. There have been many tremendous players during this time but I hesitate to list them because I fear slighting someone who was forgotten.

But, this year is different, the team knows it and the fans know it. As Amanda Cowdrey said yesterday “We have high expectations this year”. And I told her “So do the fans”.

This team is loaded with seniors: Becky Novacek, Lindsay Fletemier, Rachel Broerman, Jessica Yanz, Amanda Cowdrey and Tiffany Gaerke. In any team sport having a large senior influence is important because they want to go out winners unless they have already won enough to satisfy them. This team isn’t satisfied yet.

How do you focus on getting the most out of a season? You start by spending the summer together, bonding, working out, playing doubles, and playing six person volleyball. Rachel says that the team “Is in our best condition ever” and that they have worked very hard in the off season.

How does playing sand doubles help you become a better player? Jessica says “I am primarily a setter, it helps me round my game because I am a target”. Rachel said “The reps, physical and mental aspects make you a better player”. Amanda is a doubles beast who hopes to play for Canada in a future Olympics but she has put that part of her future on hold while playing college vball.

One thing that frustrated me at times in the past is that UD players would serve the ball without purpose and make it fairly easy for the other team to return serve. There were exceptions such as Jamie Lee Richards but I thought that several players were just hitting the ball over. That is no longer the case by any player as they demonstrated at the Red/Blue scrimmage. They chimed in that “We are serving more in an attack mode now hoping to get a team out of system”. When you get a team out of system it means that they cannot run their regular offense because of poor passing. The defense has an advantage when this happens. On the opposite side they are also working very hard on their out of system offense when they encounter great serving teams and the passing might not be perfect.

The Flyers have had some amazing matches at the Frerick’s Center against some tremendous teams such as St Louis and Xavier in the last few years. But, they have also extended some matches against teams not quite at their talent level and put themselves at risk of losing. They realize this is an issue as Rachel said “We need to prove how good we are every week” and Jessica said “We want to play at our own level”.

The road to a women’s vball player getting a college scholarship is interesting so I asked the ladies when they realized that they wanted to focus on volleyball and when they realized that they would be good enough to play for a ranked team.

Rachel: “I realized I wanted to play volleyball when I was six years old. I was always bumping a volleyball when I was small. I realized that I would be able to play for a good college team when I was a sophomore”.

Amanda: “I focused on vball starting at Grade 7 and realized I could play in college when I started receiving recruiting letters”. A Canadian athlete must come to the US to receive a scholarship. I met a Canadian player and mother who had driven 800 miles to attend UD’s vball camp to determine if her daughter was actually good enough to play when she started receiving letters.

Jessica: “I focused on vball starting at Grade 8 and also realized I could play in college when I started receiving letters”.

Most volleyball players play for their school but also play club volleyball which means A LOT OF TRAVELING. So I asked the players about their parents as they were playing before and after college.

Amanda: “My mom was on jets just as much as me. My mom had a huge impact on my playing” It just so happens that I met Amanda’s mother last year and had a great conversation with her. She was a very nice woman and I remember her saying “I love watching her play”.

Rachel: “These last four years have rewarded me for all of my earlier playing. I love playing in front of my family and my UD family”. For those unaware Rachel has A VERY LARGE AND LOUD cheering section at the games. I think they are going to see her on the court a lot this season. Amanda said that she was the most improved player on the team since last season.

Jessica: “My family has been right behind me since 8th grade getting up at 5am and going to practice. They enjoy it as much as I do”.

I asked if they had one particular person or coach that really pushed them to where they are now.

Amanda: “All of my coaches helped put me in this position”.

Jessica: “Rick Butler, my club coach was very influential in my volleyball career”.

Rachel: “Sherri Hawkins was a great influence, she was always pushing me to compete”.

My final question for the ladies was whether they had brothers or sisters who played and who was better:

Jessica: “I have a brother who is a 6’6″ middle blocker at Carthage College but I’m better”.

Rachel: “All four girls in my family play. My older sister played at a division II college in Colorada. I’m better than my two younger sisters but that might not last”. Too honest Rachel!

I forgot to mention that Jessica Yanz is a transfer from Nebraska. She used a relatively unknown/unused option to petition the NCAA for one addition season. She said there was “no way” that she expected to play this year. “I wondered what I was going to do with all of this time on my hands. You don’t realize it is over until after it happens”.

Coach Sheffield said that she was welcome at UD if her additional year was approved. The NCAA approved it and suddenly UD had one of the best setters in the country on their team after going through a terrible tragedy and having another setter transfer. Although her family loves to watch her play she said “I was happier to receive the additional year than they were”.

This will be a fun team to watch. They have far more depth on offense than any UD team I have seen and play great defense.

They have impressive offensive players at every position. You have two tremendous middles: Becky Novacek and Lindsay Fletemier (All American and on the Olympic A2 team) backed up by Shayne Brown.

You have a great all around left side hitter in Amanda Cowdrey and three talented left side hitters in Yvonne Marten, Rachel Krabacher and Tiffany Gaerke. Those three are all in a fight to start along with Right Side Hitters Anna Eytchison and freshman Megan Campbell. Any of the outside or right side hitters can change position depending upon the opponent.

At the setter position you have one of the top setters in the country along with sophomore transfer Samantha Selsky and freshman Allyson Morey . They all showed great potential at the Red/Blue scrimmage.

On defense you have experienced Libero and back row support with Rachel Broerman and Paige Vargas as well as a freshman newcomer Evelyn Carus.

There are no major weaknesses and coach Sheffield has plenty of flexibility to substitute for special situations.

The pre conference schedule is extremely difficult and includes a trip to play against nebraska which the team is looking forward to. There will probably be some bumps in the road with their difficult schedule but this will be a tough team to beat and should continue improving throughout the season.

If you haven’t been to watch a vball match at UD you should check it out.

Amanda: “It is amazing, it is so loud and so much fun”.

Rachel: “It is exciting for the fans because there is a point for every play”.

Jessica: “I love hearing the crowd OOOH and AAAH after great plays. It is a great feeling when playing”.

The first match is Friday at 7pm so

LET’S GET READY TO RUMMMBBBLLLEEE

My apologies to Evelyn and Allyson!