Women's volleyball headed for success
Muskies continue to focus on improvement
Brad Wilk
Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Sports
The Lakeland College women's volleyball team is off to a perfect start in the Northern Athletics Conference, but the Muskies are still working on playing their best volleyball of the season.
The Muskies are 6-4 overall and they have won four of their last six matches. They won their only home match so far this season 3-2 over Concordia University, Wis. They trailed two sets to one in that match, but rallied to win the last two to gain 2-0 in the conference.
Lakeland head coach Chad Schreiber said. "We're laboring to get everything working at the same time. Individual flaws are collectively hurting the group more than they should be.
Everyone is going to struggle at some point in time. When we break down each of our players as individuals right now they're each struggling with one part of their game, and that part of their game is affecting their ability to contribute to our team the way we need them to."
"Our individuals need to stop letting one flaw in their game affect them as bad as it is," Schreiber said. "Collectively as a team, we need to stop focusing on where we're falling short and be able to pick up each other. Right now, our confidence is affected by one bad play.
"You have to have the attitude that when one of your teammates makes a mistake that you'll pick them up rather than, 'Oh dang, she's off tonight; we're in trouble.'"
Lakeland is leading the conference in hitting and assists as a team, and senior setter Jessica Sparling is leading the NAC with 9.0 assists per set. Junior middle hitter Jessica Keller and senior right-side hitter Heidi Kramer are number one and number three in the conference in hitting percentage.
Lakeland has played ten matches but only one match was played at home. Schreiber said that because there are 13 teams in the conference, they cannot schedule any non-conference dual matches, just non-conference tournaments.
He also said that Lakeland is thinking about hosting its own tournament which would give the Muskies some more matches at home.
The Muskies play in tournament in Wheaton, Ill., this weekend, then they host three straight conference matches: Sept. 30 against Marian at 7 p.m., Oct. 3 against Dominican at 7 p.m. and Oct. 4 against Concordia Chicago at 2 p.m.
Schreiber said that even though several of his players are frustrated with some part of their game, the team has a good attitude and is working hard to get things corrected.
"I think the confidence in how good of a team we are is still high," Schreiber said. "I think the attitude in the gym is still positive; we're laughing and having a good time. By no means is there a sour attitude or negative cloud above our team. It just seems there is this big wall that we can't look over or get around right now that's preventing us from getting to where we think we should be."
The Muskies are 6-4 overall and they have won four of their last six matches. They won their only home match so far this season 3-2 over Concordia University, Wis. They trailed two sets to one in that match, but rallied to win the last two to gain 2-0 in the conference.
Lakeland head coach Chad Schreiber said. "We're laboring to get everything working at the same time. Individual flaws are collectively hurting the group more than they should be.
Everyone is going to struggle at some point in time. When we break down each of our players as individuals right now they're each struggling with one part of their game, and that part of their game is affecting their ability to contribute to our team the way we need them to."
"Our individuals need to stop letting one flaw in their game affect them as bad as it is," Schreiber said. "Collectively as a team, we need to stop focusing on where we're falling short and be able to pick up each other. Right now, our confidence is affected by one bad play.
"You have to have the attitude that when one of your teammates makes a mistake that you'll pick them up rather than, 'Oh dang, she's off tonight; we're in trouble.'"
Lakeland is leading the conference in hitting and assists as a team, and senior setter Jessica Sparling is leading the NAC with 9.0 assists per set. Junior middle hitter Jessica Keller and senior right-side hitter Heidi Kramer are number one and number three in the conference in hitting percentage.
Lakeland has played ten matches but only one match was played at home. Schreiber said that because there are 13 teams in the conference, they cannot schedule any non-conference dual matches, just non-conference tournaments.
He also said that Lakeland is thinking about hosting its own tournament which would give the Muskies some more matches at home.
The Muskies play in tournament in Wheaton, Ill., this weekend, then they host three straight conference matches: Sept. 30 against Marian at 7 p.m., Oct. 3 against Dominican at 7 p.m. and Oct. 4 against Concordia Chicago at 2 p.m.
Schreiber said that even though several of his players are frustrated with some part of their game, the team has a good attitude and is working hard to get things corrected.
"I think the confidence in how good of a team we are is still high," Schreiber said. "I think the attitude in the gym is still positive; we're laughing and having a good time. By no means is there a sour attitude or negative cloud above our team. It just seems there is this big wall that we can't look over or get around right now that's preventing us from getting to where we think we should be."
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