Volleyball finishes regional schedule 6-1 and focuses on playoffs – Southerner Online

With an overall record of 26-8 and a regional record of 6-1, the Knights volleyball team looks to continue its success in the playoffs.

Senior co-captain Vivienne Cannon said the team’s preseason expectations did not impact the Knights as the team made adjustments.

“Expectations were high at the start of the season, but expectations have been met and exceeded,” Cannon said. “Everyone got involved and everyone fulfilled the role they were given. We transitioned really seamlessly from last season to this season.”

Head coach Sandi Stein said the team’s losses were learning experiences from which to grow.

“Our losses were our fault; We had too many unforced errors,” Stein said. “We sorted that out against some great competitors like Lovett and Westminster, which were some great wins for us.”

Junior Brennan Fritts said the team was able to connect throughout the season, which helped the team improve their ability to play together.

“Everyone grows into their role,” Fritts said. “With the new people at the university, they needed a few games to get to know everyone and their role on the team. Over time everyone got used to it and now plays with confidence.”

Stein said to prepare for the playoffs, she scheduled games against non-region opponents to increase competition.

“I have a tougher schedule that works against regional play,” Stein said. “We played in a big Lakepoint tournament where we usually play other top 10 schools. I only planned challenging tournaments and then let more private schools play at our higher level [on our schedule] was our plan.”

Sophomore Nora Goodman said the team has been training hard to make up for the lack of regional competition.

“To prepare for the playoffs, we practice almost every day of the week and work through game-like situations,” Goodman said. “We haven’t played against top teams so we need to train extra hard and smart to prepare for these games. We’re definitely working hard to make sure we’re all well prepared for the playoffs.”

Cannon said the team’s blocking percentage has increased over the course of the season, which will be helpful for teams down the road.

“I think closing our block was a really big thing that we focused on and improved,” Cannon said. “At the start of the season, the opponent would often get past our block and be able to find the gap that our defense couldn’t really close; So I think closing our block was really important, especially if we want to beat good teams.”

Goodman said the team is still working on increasing the reliability of serves to limit pressure from opponents’ attacks.

“We want to improve serve consistency,” Goodman said. “When we miss serves, we expose ourselves to teams with good offenses, which obviously proves detrimental when it comes to winning consistently.”

The team had to adapt as the season progressed, but Stein said she was impressed with the player’s reliability. She said anyone can step up at any time.

“We have a solid group of players,” Stein said. “Anyone can stand up for anyone at any time. We played in the first big tournament [at Lakepoint]Brennan wasn’t there, so others had to fill in. It’s been fun watching their growth and enthusiasm. We’re just trying to keep that alive while pushing them to be the best.”

Cannon said the team wants to advance in the state playoffs and lose fewer games than last year.

“Our goal is to become regional champions and advance further in state than ever before, to the Elite Eight,” Cannon said. “We also want to keep our losses under 10 because last year we had 12 losses. I think we have a really good team this year and even with the private schools on our schedule, if we really try hard, we can keep our losses under 10.”