The Tennessee women’s volleyball team will tip off their season this Friday against Western Michigan in Thompson-Boling Arena.
No one is more eager for the season to begin than head coach Rob Patrick.
With just a couple days left before the start of Patrick’s 21st season, he believes the team has the potential to be better than ever before.
“It’s been a great offseason for our team. We’re at a much higher level of play at this point in the season than we ever have been,” said Patrick.
Coach Patrick said it was very difficult to pick a starting lineup. In fact, he stated it was the latest he has ever taken to decide on a lineup because of the talented depth of this year’s team.
“We have flexibility with the offenses we run this season because we have three great setters,” said Patrick. “We have some options and can even go back and forth during a match. It’s always good to keep the opposing teams off balanced.”
Brooke Schumacher, junior, believes flexibility will be an integral part of the team’s success this season.
“It’s great to have flexibility on the team because if one player isn’t having their best set of the day, there is plenty of other players to come in for them and give them the opportunity to reset,” said Schumacher.
Schumacher said that it was fun playing with so many different lineups and will be interesting to see how teams react to them.
Coach Patrick and Schumacher are also high on the newcomers entering the program this season. This year’s newcomers are players with an abundance of potential and also includes a player with collegiate experience.
“We have a transfer that came in, Stephanie Spencer, who started two years for Georgia Southern,” Patrick said. “She’s a player who provides a lot of experience for us at the outside hitter position.”
Coach Patrick also spoke highly of freshman Keyton Kinley and Callie Williams, an Under Armour All-American in high school.
“Combining Williams with Sedona Hansen gives us two amazing setters who can really run any offense through them,” said Coach Patrick.
The main key to the team’s success this off season was the involvement of the upperclassmen. The upperclassmen have taken it upon themselves to lead this year’s group of newcomers to new heights.
“This year the freshmen came in and caught on quickly to everything we had to teach. All the upperclassmen are doing an awesome job with supporting them,” said Schumacher. “It’s been an awesome summer with them and we’re ready to compete for a championship with them.”
Coach Patrick looks to use this opening weekend as a chance to experiment with some of these lineups before heading into tougher SEC matchups.
As it looks, with the improved depth of the roster, the Vols should be ready for the season ahead.
