Huskies Take Spring Swings Against Portland State
April 23, 2011
SEATTLE - Two weeks into their spring practice season, the Husky volleyball team got a chance to gauge their progress against different colored shirts on the other side of the net. Portland State, an NCAA tourney qualifier two of the past three years, made the trip up to Seattle to participate in a pair of two hour scrimmage sessions today at the Marv Harshman Court.
In front of dozens of family, friends and fans, the teams worked for about an hour and a half early in the afternoon in a drill that saw one team serve six balls and send six more free balls over to the opposition in one offensive rotation. Nearly all the Huskies saw significant time in the rotation, and all had plenty of moments to shine. Evan Sanders set the offense the first time through, with Jenni Nogueras setting the second time around. Summer Ross, Kylin Muñoz and Kaleigh Nelson all got a lot of reps at the outside hitter spot, and Amanda Gil got a lot of work on the right side, and was a big factor on offense and defense.
The 3 p.m. session took on more of a standard scrimmage format. The teams played 20-minute timed sets regardless of the score. Washington won all three 20-minute sessions, wearing down the Vikings especially in set three at the end of a long day.
Head Coach Jim McLaughlin liked the effort level, and said every player had some strong moments, but stressed that they weren't a good volleyball team yet. "I told them after the morning session that our presence was good and we worked hard, but we're not doing enough of the things we're supposed to do. We're not doing enough right things yet. So we know where we're at, we know what we have to get in place, so we've just got to work to get those things in place."
UW will start attacking those flaws next week, and has at least one more scrimmage lined up against Seattle U. before the spring season ends. The match environment helps break up the rhythm of practices and changes the mindset, says McLaughlin.
"Game day is a little different," said McLaughlin. "You've got to keep consistent in your thoughts to allow you to see the right things. So there was some good stuff today, and we've just got to keep on this process of correcting things and getting better."
