Aug. 24, 2015
By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
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ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington volleyball hosted its media day Monday afternoon at College Park Center. The Mavericks were represented at the press conference by head coach Diane Seymour, senior libero Caitlyn Cooney, junior setter Cassidy Wheeler and sophomore outside hitter Qiana Canete.
About the new squad:
Seymour: So far, so good. If you would have asked me two weeks ago when we first started, I would have said we have a lot of work to do, but over the course of two weeks, we have made great strides in the right direction and I've seen really good play out of a lot of people. I'm really excited to get things kicked off on Friday.
Losing important starters:
Seymour: Sometimes your players don't realize how big a loss that can be. Not just the physical part, but the maturity and the leadership that comes vocally, emotionally, work ethic, all of those things. But this senior class is doing a really good job. Cooney is absolutely doing a great job of taking that over. Stacey's had an awesome off-season and starting to become a little more vocal. Cassidy, as well as a junior, but she knows as the oldest setter she has to take a different approach to her daily business. You're even seeing Qiana, that's only a sophomore, but has had significant playing time understand that I know what's going on and I can take a more active role and I know what Diane wants.
Freshman having to adjust:
Seymour: That's half the battle sometimes is kids coming out of high school and there's a specific talent that we really like in them that drew is to them and them to us, but then you have to get them in your gym and get them used to how you train, the speed at which you train and a lot of it is probably the intensity of what you train and they can't just rely on being a good athlete, they have to do just a bit more and it takes three to four days to get them situated with that and then they begin to make big improvements. Obviously, get some experience for some people, even though we have five seniors on our roster, we are going to be relatively young in a lot of positions. A lot of the preseason is set up to have some tough situations. The Arkansas, the Denvers, A&M Corpus Christi is very talented. North Texas is really good. Oral Roberts in years past has been a really solid team, so you want to test your squad a little bit. You want them to get comfortable with each other and get used to what a college season is going to be.
Newcomers making a defensive impact:
Seymour: We'll still be a very good defensive team obviously with Cooney back. She's on track to set a stage for herself to be the all-time leading digger for the program and I know she'll be very determined. We have a freshman in Mikail Russell that's an outstanding, young defensive player that we'll see make a big impact on us. Jordan Holub, that came over from the basketball team a year ago has progressed quite a bit in a year's time getting back into the volleyball mode. You're talking about having a 6'2 Stacey and a 6'3 Zhanelle that are going to block some balls and Marisah Ingram is a high flying athlete. As soon as Zhanelle and Marisah really adapt to the speed of the game, we're going to be just as good defensively as we were a year ago.
Owning a different dynamic:
Seymour: Over the course of the last two or three years, we've run a 6-2 offense. That may not happen this year. Cassidy may do the majority of the setting and not because Madison Helt's not ready to set. It's because the other personnel maybe not be getting the kill production or something that we need, so that would be one instance that we may look a little bit different than in the past. Other than that, we do have a really good competition on the outside hitter position. Obviously I do feel like Qiana has her role set, but you're going to see a good competition between Kaitlyn Granger and Ashlynn Ford and even Karli Nanny for that outside hitter position.
Being picked fifth in the preseason poll:
Seymour: When you talk about the significant starters that we lost and once the news got out that we lost Briana Sharratt late in the spring, that's probably about where people think we're going to be based on the personnel we're bringing back. I think it's a good position to be in. I think we can strive to move up. We'll just take it a day at a time.
Being without Briana Sharratt:
Seymour: That's just something you weren't really expecting. You thought that after you graduated Ashley Bennett, you thought you'd have Bri for a couple more years and she would be the leader in that middle blocking position for Zhanelle and Marisah as they come along. I think what it is is sure, we'll miss her play, but more importantly what it is is that you have two freshman middle blockers that don't have an upperclassmen do it right every day. So you're relying on them listening to you and learning to do it right. That's probably the biggest loss.
Leaving behing a legacy:
Cooney: I want a conference championship. I think that my sophomore year when Charmaine was still here, that kind of slipped through our fingers in that championship against Texas State because that was doable. So, I'd like to come out here and we've got a good, athletic group and get that done as a team and also I'm close to passing numbers to breaking the school record with all time digs, so I want to achieve that, too and going into that, I've thought about it a lot and it's something I can focus on going into every single game, working on getting as many digs and touches on balls as I can. Also, just being a good leader on this team. We're young and we're going to have freshman on the court with no experience and just being able to stay positive and keep our energy up.
A different team personality:
Cooney: We got along really well and our team personality is going to be different this year because of those three main starters that left. There's positions to be filled and places for people to step in. If you ever watched Ashley Bennett play, she's very passionate and she wasn't a person with big stat numbers, but she came out and she was passionate when she played all the time. We have Zhanelle that can fill that role and Marisa is still new to all of us. Marisa is going to have to step in and play as well. Right now, we've been playing just each other, so when we get out and play different competition, we'll see how competitive and energized we are and how much we all love this sport.
The freshman impact:
Cooney: They have a lot to learn and that just comes with being a freshman. We were all there at one point, so I think one of the biggest struggles with our freshman is being able to make a change. It's being able to listen and do what she says right away.
Wheeler: They all play pretty major positions and we expect them to come in and play right off the bat and just be really effective for us. They're going to have a big impact this year.
What Seymour has taught:
Canete: Of course, it was really hard coming in as a freshman and starting and not getting off the court. I felt like I had a lot on my shoulders and I would say that all the time and I would tell Diane that and she'd be like, "you really don't. you just do what you know how to do, really." So, I learned really to be tough and how to just play and not think about it.
Having shoes to fill:
Wheeler: I learned from Welsh to always work hard even if things aren't going the way that they should. She always worked hard and she was just always very positive, so that's something that, not just myself, but everyone can work on too. Everyone could really look up to Welsh. Now that she's gone, I feel like I know what needs to be done and I'm able to see what she did and whenever she left, you were able to see where the gap was. I went ahead and stepped into that.
Teams to watch:
Cooney: Little Rock. They went far in the NCAA Tournament and they lost two major players, but they still have a strong fit come in. They're returning conference champs, so they're a big target. And then Texas State. We always have it out for them.
