Seniors Kelly Maxwell and Jenna Coates look ready for 2013 season
The volleyball team won its scrimmage Saturday against the alumni squad and two players took key roles in the victory.
Senior defensive specialist Jenna Coates and setter Kelly Maxwell helped the Maroon team beat the Gold team in the annual preseason scrimmage at McGuirk Arena, which pits the current squad against former players.
“(Maxwell) certainly put our hitters in very good position to score,” said head coach Erik Olson. “Our hitters probably should have taken care of a few more of those opportunities. She should have more assists, not of her own doing.”
This was Maxwell’s first real test since being given a clean bill of health and clearance to play.
“She was mostly mental training going through the first half of the preseason; now she’s getting in her normal routine,” Olson said. “She continues to be more confident with her attacking in the front row. She’s had a phenomenal preseason.”
Maxwell led the team with 26 assists in the match, while junior setter Danielle Thompson was the only other player with more than one assist.
Coates defense allowed Maxwell to have opportunities to set up other players for potential kills. The defensive specialist led the team with 15 digs.
“My blockers did a really good job opening up the seams for me to just slide in,” Coates said. “Kelly (Maxwell) did a good job getting to all my digs.”
Olson spoke well of both Maxwell and Coates after the match, in addition to the play of graduate student outside hitter and middle blocker Katie Schuette.
“I thought Jenna Coates was really good defensively, really good solid serve receive, and Katie Schuette was consistent,” Olson said. “We didn’t have stats going tonight, but we were taking stats on our own bench and (Schuette) was regularly hitting three, four hundred (hitting percentage) throughout the match.”
Olson said despite numerous bright spots, there’s still a lot the team can work on. With the addition of Schuette and Maxwell back into the lineup after battling injuries, the players will need time to work with each other.
“We’re still working some kinks out in terms of connecting and being congruent with our front row and back row attacks and spreading our offense out so it’s not as predictable as it was last season,” Olson said.
