With the UTRGV Volleyball Team winning the 2018 Western Athletic Conference regular season title with a record of 22-9 and receiving the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, expectations are high for this year.
“The mood is light, but the work effort is really high,” Head Coach Todd Lowery said. “This year, the team is putting all of its pieces together to get everyone on the same page.”
With three newcomers this season and the addition of new Assistant Coach Leah Best, the integration among the team seems to be well adapted.
“I think this group [is] finding their way,” Lowery said. “We have girls that [have] been playing under different coaches, under different programs, so getting everybody on the same page as far as, like, blocking schemes, defense schemes, how will we want to run our offense. So, that’s been the main focus early on and a little bit of getting everybody back in shape as well.”
Considering the loss of eight key players who graduated, the team’s biggest responsibility is to defend its title.
“The seniors were great,” Lowery said. “They helped us turn this program around and now it’s kind of the next chapter.”
Last year’s seniors left their mark on the team, with recent graduate Ragni Steen Knudsen, outside hitter, signing a professional contract.
Nonetheless, the team is prepared for anything coming its way as they keep developing their chemistry by taking their game to the next level.
“Each year we lose a big piece of the puzzle, so people are going to have to step up,” Lowery said. “Offensively, I think it’s going to come from a lot of new faces, so we can expect great things out of Sarah [Cruz], Victoire [Nama] and Ioanna [Charitonidi]. All are going to play a big part of the offense on court.”
Other key players graduating this year also have their own personal expectations for the season. Right side hitter Barbara Silva, who ranks second in program history with 278 block assists, hopes to get one last championship in her final season at UTRGV.
“I think we’re going to have really good chemistry this year,” Silva said. “Everybody feels like we’re on the same page with the new girls.”
She said her main goal is simply “to have fun playing volleyball.”
The next game for UTRGV will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Houston Baptist University in Houston as part of the HBU Tournament.
