KSU’s women’s volleyball team is gearing up to open its 2012 season Friday, Aug. 24, as they travel to the Mississippi to take on Louisiana-Monroe in the Mississippi State Maroon Classic. After a summer spent strength training and conditioning, the women are excited to be back at practice and are ready to tackle their competitive season schedule.
“I am so excited, it’s beyond words. That’s just the best phrase I can use,” said head coach Karen Weatherington. “Yesterday I was so excited to start I couldn’t even get my coaching instructions out. We’re so talented, so deep and diverse. It’s been a great way to get started, I’m just happy to be back in the gym.”
The 2012 season is looking like an exciting one for the team, which invited seven new athletes to the group. In addition, the Owls welcomed a new assistant coach, Orlando Gonzalez, who was added to the coaching staff in late March.
Eight starters return from the 2011 team (13-16), which earned its colors by finishing fourth last year in the A-Sun Championship.
Among the returning athletes are Sara Metroka and Camille Pedraza, who both earned spots on the A-Sun Preseason All-Conference Team. Pedraza, who is beginning her third season at KSU, was recently named the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Libero of the Year.
Metroka, who holds the record for career assist marks at KSU, will rejoin the team for her third season as well.
“I’m just so thrilled for both of them,” said Weatherington. “The rest of the conference has seen them grow and mature in the past two seasons and this is what we aspire to. I couldn’t ask for two better players to represent KSU volleyball.”
The women have a very busy schedule this season, hitting the ground running with two weekends of away tournaments in Starkville, Miss. and Savannah, Ga. The Owls will open at the KSU Convocation Center Friday, Sept. 7, to host North Carolina Central, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Troy and Tennessee State at the second annual KSU Owls Classic.
“We are really pleased with the schedule that we were able to create for the 2012 season,” said Weatherington. “We have some very strong match-ups against teams from major conferences such as Mississippi State, Wake Forest and New Mexico. Competition like that should help us prepare for conference play and will certainly put ourselves in a position to grow competitively.”
The A-Sun Conference is beginning to implement some changes this year, expanding the women’s schedule to 18 matches, which is up from 10 in 2010 and 13 in 2011. The new format is designed for each team to have a home field advantage once during the season and will certainly add an interesting twist to matches.
“It is exciting to see our conference schedule return to a true round-robin format,” said Weatherington. “We will definitely see a good amount of parity between all of the teams this year in what will definitely be a challenging A-Sun slate.”
The Kennesaw State team has a lot to live up to this season, predicted to finish fourth by the preseason coaches’ poll.
“I appreciate having the respect of the A-Sun coaches,” said Weatherington, who was the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year. “With all the players we had move on from last year, for them to still see us among the top of the league is something I can get excited about.”
Coach Weatherington is preparing her girls for a hectic season and is looking to improve their game one day of practice at a time.
“I’m looking for a lot of ball control, and for us to be a little more crisp in our footwork,” said Weatherington. “We gained a lot of strength with the new strength and conditioning program that’s been in place over the summer. From one day to the next (ball control) has already been a lot better.”
Weatherington is also hopeful the upperclassmen can lead the way
“I’m leaning on the seniors,” Weatherington said. “Baylee Strachan is strong, she’s done an incredible job here for us for the past couple years. We’re excited to have Turea Jones back in the mix; she’s a steady and great ball control person, so really I’m leaning on them to incorporate our tone and culture into the program.”
Weatherington also has high expectations for rising junior star Metroka.
“Sara’s taken on a leadership role and she’s definitely done some things to fine-tune our offense,” Weatherington said. “She’s going to be our quarterback and that’s who we’re following this season.”
The Owl’s schedule includes 12 home dates, three against teams who competed in the 2011 NCAA Championship. Fans can catch the Owls starting off the season at noon on Friday, Sept. 7 against North Carolina Central and again at 7 p.m., as they take on Tennessee State. The two-day tournament will continue into Saturday, when the women square off against Chattanooga and Troy.