The Winthrop Volleyball team began the season 3-9. The three wins were over Seton Hall, South Carolina, and South Alabama. Some of the losses included Wisconsin, Clemson, Kansas, Northern Iowa, and Georgia Southern. The players and coaches all knew they were better than their record. The thought was to play a tough non-conference and we would be battle tested heading into conference play.
It now looks like the plan is working. Since beginning conference play with a tough 3-2 loss to High Point, the Eagles have reeled off five straight wins and it’s not like Winthrop has played the bottom of the conference. The last three wins are against Liberty (winners of three of the last four BSC championships), Coastal Carolina (defending tournament champ and preseason top pick), and UNC Asheville (defending regular season champ). The really impressive part is the Eagles have only lost two sets in the last five matches. That is 15-2 people.
The Eagles are proving to be the most balanced team offensively in the league. Every team has a great outside hitter; some teams have two great outside hitters. But no one has the middles that Winthrop has. Becca Toor and Sara Felts have been dominating people. If you think about attack percentages the same way you think about batting averages in baseball (.300 being where you want to be, and .400 being a super star) Becca Toor in her last three matches is hitting .408, Sara Felts is hitting .281, combined they are hitting .346. That is against three of the top four teams in the conference.
A couple of people who are not getting headlines but are improving as the season goes along. Libero Kelsey Harrison (libero’s never get headlines) set a school record with 31 digs against Asheville on Oct. 6. Carolyn Weed set a new career-high with 15 kills and hit .324 in that same match. Weed is settling in as the second outside hitter and can really be a factor if she can average around 10 kills a match. Stephanie Palmer did a nice job of filling in at setter against Asheville and has also proven to be a factor on the right side when she is not setting.
It is still too early to hand the Eagles the trophy but right not the ladies are playing as well as anyone in the league. They have two more matches against Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb this weekend to close out the first trip around the league. The second trip around the league will be tough with High Point, Coastal, and Asheville all on the road but they are playing well now and hopefully will continue through the rest of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment