Junior middle blocker Mallory Talbert shares her optimism for next season.
What are you looking forward to most about the season?
"It is just a way different team than last year. We've had time in the gym, but we haven't had enough time. I'm most excited about the energy that everyone's going to feel coming back and being able to be on a court again. How thankful everyone's going to feel that we've gotten past this quarantine stuff and we can start training again and how the team's going to evolve. We have a really exciting schedule, including our home tournament. Having Texas come in is always really exciting and a really big motivator for us, but I never like to let opponents get too big, like it's just another match. I'm just really excited about our team and how we can take this weird situation that everyone's been put in and be better than the next team from it."
How is this team different from last year's team?
"We're definitely a lot younger. Seeing people who have had some time on the court step into a new role, after losing Camila [Gomez] and Hollann [Hans] – those are two power, impact players – it's just been neat to watch people step into those new positions. It's really exciting. They feel the need that they want to be in that role, and to see young people do it like them… watching Morgan [Christon] grow in the short amount of time we've had in the gym has been inspiring."
What are you doing to keep yourself entertained during the quarantine?
"I definitely have been reading books more. I used to do it a lot in high school, then I got to college and you just get really busy, but I've been reading this new book called Uninvited and I've really, really liked it. It's nonfiction but reading for fun has been something I haven't been able to do for so long, so it's been really nice to be able to do that again. I live at The Barracks and there's a pond here – honestly, it's always been there ever since I can remember, but with everything closing, so many people started hanging out there. You will have like 30 people there every single day laying out by the pond, swimming in the pond – someone put a jet ski in the pond – it's so funny. I don't really watch a lot of TV, but I found a lot of new music."
What are you looking forward to most about the season?
"It is just a way different team than last year. We've had time in the gym, but we haven't had enough time. I'm most excited about the energy that everyone's going to feel coming back and being able to be on a court again. How thankful everyone's going to feel that we've gotten past this quarantine stuff and we can start training again and how the team's going to evolve. We have a really exciting schedule, including our home tournament. Having Texas come in is always really exciting and a really big motivator for us, but I never like to let opponents get too big, like it's just another match. I'm just really excited about our team and how we can take this weird situation that everyone's been put in and be better than the next team from it."
How is this team different from last year's team?
"We're definitely a lot younger. Seeing people who have had some time on the court step into a new role, after losing Camila [Gomez] and Hollann [Hans] – those are two power, impact players – it's just been neat to watch people step into those new positions. It's really exciting. They feel the need that they want to be in that role, and to see young people do it like them… watching Morgan [Christon] grow in the short amount of time we've had in the gym has been inspiring."
What are you doing to keep yourself entertained during the quarantine?
"I definitely have been reading books more. I used to do it a lot in high school, then I got to college and you just get really busy, but I've been reading this new book called Uninvited and I've really, really liked it. It's nonfiction but reading for fun has been something I haven't been able to do for so long, so it's been really nice to be able to do that again. I live at The Barracks and there's a pond here – honestly, it's always been there ever since I can remember, but with everything closing, so many people started hanging out there. You will have like 30 people there every single day laying out by the pond, swimming in the pond – someone put a jet ski in the pond – it's so funny. I don't really watch a lot of TV, but I found a lot of new music."