August 12, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas- Texas A&M is determined more than ever to make noise and turn heads this season. The Aggies not only want to cause a scene in the competitive Big 12 Conference, but they intend to crash the NCAA party after being left at the door last year despite posting a 21-10 record.
“I am eagerly anticipating that this team is going to just let loose and really take off,” said A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli, who is entering her 16th season at the helm of the Aggies. “I feel it coming. This team is on the verge of doing great things.”
With the majority of the players being experienced juniors and seniors, this close-knit seasoned team is coming of age. They have been through two heartbreaking seasons and saw A&M’s streak of 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances come to an end. Despite the adversity, the team has bonded like no other and built an unmatched resolve. With increased maturity, understanding and talent, the Aggies are focused on erasing the bad memories of the last two seasons by having the experience of a lifetime in 2008.
“This team won’t be satisfied with an NCAA second-round match,” Corbelli said. “They are setting their hearts and their minds on going very deep into the tournament. They have the ambition. They have the work ethic. Maybe more than in the last five years, we have a group that so much of it is about the intangibles and the belief. This group just gets it.”
Eight letterwinners return with a vengeance, including six players who average nearly two years of starting experience at the Division I level. In addition, Corbelli welcomes five talented newcomers, four of whom enrolled at A&M in January and gained valuable playing experience within the system by participating in spring drills, as well as going on the team’s well-timed two-week training trip to Europe in June.
Four of the five returning starters have at least two years of starting experience. Senior right-side hitter Kelsey Bryant (6-2) and junior outside hitters Sarah Ammerman (6-2) and Mary Batis (6-0) have started for the Aggies since their freshman seasons. Junior setter Kristen Schevikhoven (5-9), who transferred to A&M last season, also has two years of starting experience, including her freshman campaign at Northern Colorado.
Senior Jillian Phillips (6-1), one of the most athletic and tenacious middle blockers in the Big 12, anchored the Aggies’ front row in her first season as a starter last year, hitting .334 and leading the team with 1.2 blocks per game.
“This is one of the most veteran teams we have had in awhile, and the majority of them are only juniors,” Corbelli said. “They’ve all matured. They’ve been patient yet aggressively striving to get better. I know what they have put into this program, and it is their turn. The time is right. They are ready, and there are no excuses.”
New to the Aggies’ starting lineup but not new to the team or to a starting role is senior Darla Donaldson. The fierce 6-2 middle blocker transferred to A&M last season after starting two seasons at Cal State Northridge. She is expected to step in for Kelly Stanton, who completed her eligibility last year.
The other two returning letterwinners ?- setter Jola Kelner (6-0) and outside hitter Jennifer Banse (6-0) ?- also have significant court experience entering their third season with the program. They have played the vital role of being first off the bench for their respective positions and could just as easily be considered starters based on their ability to step in without the team skipping a beat.
“We have a lot of options,” Corbelli said. “Both setters are highly trained, know the system and the players love playing with both of them. We have depth at the outside hitter position. They are experienced and reliable, and being primary passers, their passing has leveled out and really helped us achieve a more balanced attack more often.
“They all have steadied their confidence in all areas of their game. That is what investing those seasons on the court is going to be bringing them. They haven’t sat on the bench as freshmen and sophomores wondering what it will be like when they get into the Big 12 and go against the big blocks and the different defenses. They have all been there. All the way around, in every rotation we are going to have that kind of experience. That is something you can’t replace.”
As for newcomers, four of the five enter the season having already experienced competition at the college level and have learned A&M’s system after going through spring drills and the Europe tour.
“Having so many new players arrive in January was unprecedented in our program, and it is a huge benefit for us in so many ways,” Corbelli said. “You can really see the cumulative effect pretty quickly when you are in the gym every day, and having them here to get over all of the newness and experience the speed, the intensity and the daily demands is going to lend itself to being an even more united group when we begin in August.”
Junior Dylan Faulkner (5-10) brings two years of Division I experience after transferring from Wake Forest in January. Although projected to contribute in the back row, she also offers options at the setter and right side positions.
High school All-American outside hitters Chelsea Ringel (6-0) and Kelsey Black (5-11) are both expected to see significant playing time in their rookie season. Each came in with a competitive winning attitude and experience, having won state championships in high school and participating in numerous USA Volleyball High Performance camps. Not only will they provide healthy competition and talented depth to the deep corps of outside hitters, but also their advanced all-around back row skills will allow Corbelli to be more creative with the lineup.
Ringel shined as the team’s libero in the spring and in Europe. She also has trained on the right side, as well as the left. The athletic Black, who was named to the USA Junior National Training Team in the summer, is learning how to use her power and speed at the net more effectively and also has been called upon to be a primary passer and defensive player.
“They are mature beyond their years, and they want to contribute,” Corbelli said. “They make the whole group that much stronger. All five outside hitters are going to be seeing a lot of time, and I love the fact that there is so much competition and that they each have something different to bring.”
Freshman 6-2 middle blocker Stephanie Minnerly also enrolled at A&M in January, but she had shoulder surgery in November and was not cleared to practice until the end of spring training. She made rapid improvement and is expected to get some playing time throughout the season as she prepares for the future, but she could play a vital role this season if either of the senior middles go down with an injury.
Freshman Stephanie Wells (6-1) will be the only player who will be practicing with the team for the first time when preseason drills begin. However, with her knowledge, determination and size, she could provide valuable depth on the right side or middle.
“We are not the biggest at every spot across the net, but we can make that up with our defense, our speed and our heart,” Corbelli said. “We have a group that believes. We’ve got so many seasoned players who have been through so many heartbreaks and so many hours of training to be champions, and I think they are going to be pretty stubborn this year with what they are willing to give away.”
Unlike recent years, the Aggies have the luxury of quality experience and talent at all positions, which in turn leads to a more balanced attack.
“The beauty of this group is that we don’t have to rely on one go-to player,” Corbelli said. “We can rely more on what our attack give us, and ?'Schevi’ and Jola are very good at knowing who they need to set when and in which situation.”
As long as the Aggies are in system, opponents continuously will have to figure out how to stop A&M’s potent offense. Schevikhoven, the team’s co-MVP last year, and Kelner can dish the ball to the outside where any combination of Ammerman, Batis and Banse will be constantly going at opponents with a combination of point-producing power and craftiness.
Ammerman was the team’s Best Offensive Player in 2007 after hitting .254 and leading A&M and ranking in the top five in the Big 12 with 4.33 kills, 0.36 aces and 5.07 points per game for the full season. She also honed her skills as a member of USA Volleyball’s A2 team, which captured a bronze medal at the USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships in May.
Batis, A&M’s co-MVP and Best Defensive Player last season, has started every match during her two-year career and last year led the team with 3.57 digs per game and ranked second with 3.56 kills and 4.15 points per game. Banse, who receive the team’s Most Improved Player award last year and loves playing defense, will see playing time on the left. And don’t count out the duo of Black and Ringel.
The risk-taking setters also enjoy running the senior-laden middle. With the reemergence of Donaldson, who was slowed by a bout with anemia last year, and the return of the athletic and dynamic Phillips, the Aggies are a constant threat in the middle both on offense and defense.
Although the middle blocker position is an area of strength, it also could be a major concern should an injury occur. Bryant, an excellent blocker and deceptive attacker on the right, would be the top choice to move into the position if needed.
Should Bryant move to the middle, Batis offers options on the right, having competed at that position in the spring, as well as Ringel.
The team also will be relying on Faulkner and Ringel, who will anchor the back row defense, and along with the other primary passers will be critical in order to get the offense firing on all cylinders.
“Going into preseason drills, my concerns are, No. 1, serving and passing, and No. 2, staying healthy,” Corbelli said. “They will be critical to our success. If we are to reach the goals of a Big 12 title and going deeper than we’ve ever gone in the tournament, then it will be required that we serve and pass with the best and that we stay healthy.”
A&M got a jump on the season by taking a foreign tour, which the NCAA allows once every four years. In addition to taking in the sites of the cities and learning about the various cultures, the trip presented valuable opportunities that will carryover into the season. Using the NCAA’s newly instituted 25-point scoring format, the Aggies experimented with different lineups and strategies while playing increasingly competitive youth, junior national and professional teams.
“The Europe trip was such great volleyball, and the team rose to the occasion,” Corbelli said. “They had some great experiences there, and it is something they will remember. The competition really lent itself to helping us build our momentum as we went through the trip, and I expect it is going to carry over nicely into our pre-conference.”
Despite going .500 in one of the top leagues -- if not the top league -- in the country last year, A&M’s weaker-than-expected preseason schedule was a point of contention for the NCAA selection committee. There will be no room for that argument this season as the Aggies embark on an ambitious schedule starting August 29-30 at the Bluejay Invitational in Omaha, Neb.
Overall, seven of A&M’s 10 preseason matches will be against teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2007. In addition, 12 of 20 conference matches will be against NCAA teams.
“This schedule would have been a nightmare last year, but this year we are very ready for it,” Corbelli said.
The Aggies open against SEC-rival LSU and then face Minnesota, both NCAA tournament teams last season. A&M closes out the weekend against host Creighton, which, despite finishing tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference, was not one of the league’s three teams selected to the NCAA tournament field.
“LSU, Minnesota and Creighton are incredibly strong programs and will give us all we can handle,” Corbelli said.
A&M makes its home debut Sept. 5-6, hosting American, Siena and BYU. Both American and Siena won their conference tournaments last year to earn an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, and BYU ranked No. 12 in the final AVCA Top 25 after advancing to the NCAA regionals.
“This home tournament may be one of the best we have had in a long time, since we had UCLA here, and that has been a while,” Corbelli said. “Both American and Siena are coming off conference championships and return a lot of experience, and BYU has a great tradition of strong volleyball. We are going to have some great competition.”
After a Tuesday home match against Texas State, A&M plays its final preseason tournament Sept. 12-13 at the University of San Diego, where the Aggies take on Cal State Fullerton and Southern Mississippi and then wrap up the tournament against the host Toreros, who advanced to the NCAAs and ranked No. 25 in the final poll last year.
A&M opens Big 12 play at Iowa State on Sept. 17. The Cyclones advanced to the Sweet 16 last year and ranked No. 17 in the final poll.
The Aggies’ first Big 12 home match is Sept. 21 against Oklahoma, another NCAA participant that came back from a 0-2 game deficit to defeat A&M at G. Rollie in both teams’ league opener last year. The loss potentially cost A&M a trip to the NCAAs.
The Aggies conclude the regular season at Missouri on Nov. 28. The Tigers tied A&M for sixth place in the Big 12 in 2007, but unlike the Aggies, they received an at-large bid to the NCAAs. Following the match at Missouri, the Aggies expect to be eagerly awaiting to see who their next opponent will be when the 64-team NCAA tournament field is announced on Nov. 30.
“Our goal is clearly to win a Big 12 championship,” Corbelli said. “The goal is clearly to be rewarded with a great spot in the NCAA tournament, and to go further than we’ve ever gone is a great goal for this team. If you don’t set that goal, you are not going to achieve it. They are comfortable making that their dream, and it is something they believe they can accomplish.”
A best-ever season would put the Aggies back where they started the season, Omaha, the host city of the Final Four.
“I’m not going to say it couldn’t happen,” Corbelli said. “If things fall into place as we go, we continue to improve and we serve and pass with the best of them, then things would look really good for us to have that kind of goal. In the players’ minds, they have that kind of goal.”