Volleyball working hard to excel
8/12/2014 11:01:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Beginning her 30th season as head coach of the Bearkat volleyball team, Brenda Gray is as determined as ever to build a team capable of winning another Southland Conference title as her squad opens practice this week.
Gray, who stands as one of only 18 NCAA Division I volleyball coaches with more than 600 career victories, knows her squad is going to need all the practice they can get.
With several fresh faces added to an experienced roster that finished third in the conference last season, Gray said it's extremely important that the team begins to mesh sooner rather than later.
“The new girls, the girls that have been here all summer, have done an excellent job,” Gray said. “The girls who have been here this summer have gelled extremely well with each other.”
Returning for the Bearkats this season are outside hitters Deveney Wells-Gibson, Breanna Homer, Krista Koopman and Sarah Guzman; middle blockers Shelby Genung, Carling Urban and Cherise Coleman; defensive specialist Claire Kilpatrick and setter Michelle Griffith.
Additionally, setter Sarah Sherman returns after being redshirted as a freshman last year.
Wells-Gibson is a first-team selection on the All-Southland Conference preseason squad voted on by the league's head coaches. Wells-Gibson led the Bearkats with 458 kills last season. After leading the conference with 496 points as a sophomore in 2012, she was named the Southland player of the year.
Alongside as another key player for Sam Houston will be Genung, who ranked third on the team in kills as a true freshman last season. Gray said for her team to develop into a championship contender, her already established starters must live up to their reputations.
“I think if they're not playing to their full potential every time they get out there, they're doing an injustice to not only themselves, but to the team and the program as well,” Gray said. “We need to just get after it. That's just how this team operates. We go 110 percent all the time.”
Joining the Bearkats this season are Huntsville native Jordyn Vaughn, Sarah Cranek (San Antonio/Taft and Brooke White (Fort Worth/Episcopal).
The team began practice on Monday and has 17 days before taking on Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State on Aug. 29 in its first match-ups at the Sam Houston Invitational. But before the Bearkats play any actual games, Gray said the team still has several areas to improve upon.
“We have an extremely long way to go,” Gray said. “We know what we're up against. Because of so many new people on the court, we know we've got a big mountain to climb. But that's just how it goes. That's why we're in here and that's why we train.”
The Kats own a string of seven consecutive Southland post-season tournament appearances and a 61-27 league record since 2008. The Kats won the 2012 Southland regular season title and have finished among the league's top three squads four of the last five years.
