The Aggies (6-10, 3-6 SEC) have struggled lately with consistency in their play. Expectations were set high after coming off an overall 21-9 record in 2016. Now the maroon and white find themselves facing off against Tennessee (10-8, 3-6 SEC), whom they defeated twice last year, with a predominately unexperienced squad.
¬“The challenge for us will be to put together a complete match, put together what we’ve been doing in the middle of set – not at the beginning, not at the end, but in the middle – and if we can get that kind of volleyball going for the entire set, we’ve got good luck on our hands,” Corbelli said. “It’s coming down to a lot of the way some kids are handling the adversity, forgetting a little bit how to win, how to finish, it’s affected confidence. So I think we’re aware of where we stand. We have to figure out how to make the switch with 17 college women. We’re bound and determined to do that.”
The key, Corbelli says, in carrying this team to a successful end of the season is figuring out how to string together those moments of stellar volleyball and bridge the gap between the younger attack and right side to the more experienced ball control.
“We have moments in matches where we string together some pretty awesome looking volleyball,” said Corbelli. “To start a set, we have not figured out as a group how to start strong. We kind of get the wheels going, and then we certainly haven’t figured out how to finish. I think players are really realizing that there has to be some changes made, and now it’s finding a way to make sure those changes happen.
The entire squad is nearly 65 percent underclassmen, led by some key senior talent. Sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans heads the younger attacking force and currently leads the team in kills with 201. She is joined by freshmen outside hitter Samantha Sanders and middle blocker Makena Patterson who have locked themselves down as mainstay in the Aggies’ lineup. On the defensive side, senior libero Amy Nettles has 203 digs. Helping build the chemistry between the two contrasting points is the adversity Corbelli knows the team will be better for.
“Well I think it’s unfortunate to have been doing this for a long, long time because I know this is part of coaching,” Corbelli said. “You have teams some years that just have a difficult time figuring stuff out together, and it is frustrating but you cannot let it get you. We still have eight matches, we still have our goals set really high. We know we couldn’t do that if we didn’t have the talent.”
The Aggies matchup against Tennessee is at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Reed Arena.