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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
The season of rebuilding has officially begun for Metro's volleyball team as they only took one victory in four games Aug. 23 through Aug. 25 at the Florida Southern Invitational in Lakeland, Fla.
Losing four key starters from last year's squad has left this year's team with little veteran leadership experience, while the freshmen and incoming transfer students continue to learn the system that head coach Debbie Hendricks installed into the program seven years ago.
The Roadrunners opened the season against fifth-ranked Florida Southern and were swept 25-30, 23-30 and 19-30. Hendricks knew it was going to be a tall task for her very young team to play such highly ranked teams early on in the season, but said her team stood up to the competition despite the final weekend's record.
Their inexperience glared in the score box as Metro had a kill percentage of .154, hitting only 39 kills in 104 attempts while committing 23 errors. Only one Roadrunner managed to post double figures in kills. Redshirt freshman Danielle St. Pierre had 10 kills in 19 attempts. "I thought we played really tough against the more experienced teams," Hendricks said. "We competed well in the first couple of games against Florida Southern and in the Findlay match, who is getting votes for the top 25, and we went five with them."
The Roadrunners fought back from a 2-1 deficit to force a game five with a 30-26 victory in the fourth game against the Oilers of Findlay. Metro kept it close in the deciding fifth game by tying the score at eight apiece after outside hitter Julie Green-McFarland came up with a kill. But Findlay reeled off the final seven points to take the game and the match.
"One of the things we are addressing right now is there were definitely periods this weekend where we would just break down for long periods of time and we've got to clean that up," Hendricks said.
Metro took home their first victory of the year in the third game of the tournament against Abilene Christian by going five games with the Wildcats winning 29-31, 30-24, 30-18, 34-36 and 15-11.
Green-McFarland led the 'Runners with 25 kills while setter Stephanie Levi put up 54 assists in the win.
"We won the (game) we needed to win," Hendricks said. "That was the most important match to us was Abilene Christian. We had opportunities to win that one in game four, but your response going into game five when you lose a long hard game four is really important. We took an early lead in game five and never let up."
The weekend ended with a loss, as No. 10-ranked Hillsdale swept the Roadrunners 16-30, 24-30 and 19-30. Metro posted a meager .172 kill percentage and, according to Hendricks, it was the toughest loss to swallow as the team did not compete well because they seemed a little intimidated.
With week one in the books, Metro has gained valuable experience on how fast and how good Division II volleyball is played, having stood up against two top-10 teams to start the season. Although their record stands at 1-3, Hendricks is optimistic that her team will grow quicker than most teams that start off with a softer schedule, but with inexperience comes inconsistency.
"I don't think our confidence was compromised at all out of this weekend," Hendricks said. "We knew we were going into a tough tournament and at times I think we battled well. And to be as young as we are, we expected that."
Metro will head back home to host the Colorado Premier Challenge Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at Auraria Courts. They will take on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the first round of the tournament.
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