Florida Volleyball Notebook - Aug. 23
Saturday, August 23, 2008 | Volleyball
Sunday's event commences at 12:30 p.m. when the Stephen C. O'Connell Center doors open. Players and coaches sign autographs beginning at 1 p.m. with the Orange and Blue Match to follow at 2 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
While a lot of talk surrounding the 2008 edition of the Gator volleyball team has centered on the team's freshmen, which were named the nation's No. 1 recruiting class by PrepVolleyball.com and Volleyball Magazine, Florida head coach Mary Wise said Saturday that she thinks fans will enjoy watching the improvement of the team's returning players.
“I think they will enjoy seeing the difference in our four upperclassmen in terms of a player like Christina Diaz being in the best shape of her career, Kristina Johnson coming off of a knee surgery and Elyse Cusack setting all sorts of records in the weight room,” Wise said. “Elyse is our strongest player and she plays that way. I think our fans will enjoy seeing that.
“One of the biggest changes in a player over the course of their career is the difference between their freshman and sophomore years,” Wise continued. “Our sophomores are going to look different to our fans that have watched us and, of course, they will enjoy the excitement of the new players.”
Wise said that while the team's newcomers have made excellent progress during the course of the preseason, she is aware that the players have been forced to battle somewhat of a learning curve.
“I still wish we had that pause button,” Wise said. “The team could definitely use another week of preseason, but that's not how the calendar works. What we're trying to do is to teach them the skills needed to win at this level and, at the same time, trying to give them game experience. We're having to balance how much scrimmaging we do with skill acquisition. There's just not enough hours in the day.
“The effort has been great and we are a much improved team than we were when we started. We just know we have a long way to go.”
