Fresh off a history-making season in 2016, the women’s volleyball team is back in action and ready to prove it belongs among the top competition the NCAA has to offer.
Head Coach Todd Lowery has challenged his group right out of the gate with the team’s first 10 games coming on the road against three ranked opponents and five NCAA tournament qualifiers a season ago. Add in Hurricane Harvey preventing the team from traveling home, women’s volleyball has spent the majority of the early season living together on the road while going through their tough stretch.
With matches against the likes of the University of Oregon and Ohio State University, Lowery knows in order to make back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for UTRGV, the defending Western Athletic Conference Champions will have to test themselves so come tourney time, they will be ready for all challengers.
“We’re a one-bid conference and we know that coming into the year that we got to win the WAC if we want to be in the NCAAs, so what better way to start off then to see teams that we know are going to be in the NCAAs,” he said. “Those are all teams that are NCAA teams and that’s what we want. We know that New Mexico State’s an NCAA team, and if we want to beat them, we’re going to have to play people like that. It’s just us scheduling the first level above us. If we can finish .500 in preseason, I think that’s a great preseason for us playing the team’s that we’ve played.”
The 2017 squad returns five starters from last year, giving Lowery plenty of game experience to lead this team in its defense of the WAC title. Seniors Bojana Mitrovic and Tina Sekulic, the only two on the team, have spent four years playing under the two-time NAIA champion and will be heavily leaned on, as they know exactly what Lowery is looking for on the court. Juniors Alexandra Ecker and Ragni Steen Knudsen, and sophomore Barbara Silva, are the other returning starters leading the charge on the court.
Mitrovic was voted the Preseason WAC Player of the Year in August after being named to the First Team All Conference in her previous two campaigns. The right side hitter provides a big presence for the team, both on and off the court.
“I’m very proud with how far we’ve come with this program. … I’m already comfortable with how the system works and how Coach’s leading, so I don’t think I’ll have problems being a leader on this team,” Mitrovic said. “I just need to still adjust to the new girls, figure out what pushes them to be better and how they need to push me to be better.”
Predicted to finish second in the conference, the volleyball team now returns to Edinburg for a seven-game stretch and is ready to open the season in front of the home crowd.
“I think we’re all just excited to be back, you know, not having to worry about leaving again and just being all out of sorts, but I think it’s going to be good for us and we can build momentum into the start of conference,” said Ecker, a team captain.
It’s not just any home opener either. The second installment of the South Texas Showdown against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the UTRGV Fieldhouse. In the teams’ first meeting, TAMU-CC prevailed 3-1 (25-14, 22-25, 17-25, 15-25.) Now, UTRGV will be looking for revenge, which they hope can build momentum before the start of WAC play.
“Super excited to be home, not just the home match on Wednesday, it’s going to be nice to get three weeks at home and just a chance for us to get better,” Lowery said. “We feel like we haven’t had a chance to really work on things that we’ve seen the first couple weekends, because we just haven’t had practice time. We’ve had a little practice time on the road but it’s not the same as having your gym. … We’re excited to be home not just to go out and perform in front of the crowd but to go out and get better every day in the gym.”
The women will host two tourneys this year starting with the UTRGV Tournament this weekend. They will open the tournament with a 7 p.m. Friday match against University of the Incarnate Word in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Then, they will have the opportunity to defend their conference championship as they host the WAC Tournament Nov. 16-18.
Lowery said his team has to find some consistency in order for the team to reach their goals of another conference crown and NCAA Tournament berth.
“It’s been an up and down preseason but we can do some good things,” he said. “So, you got to look at it both ways. If we can find some middle ground there, we’re going to win some more matches and then if we can sustain that high level that we’re capable of playing, I’m excited about that.”
