After seeing its season end in Austin three years in a row, the Aggie volleyball team is looking to change its fortunes in 2015.
A&M is coming off another NCAA Tournament appearance with a 20-10 overall record. Head coach Laurie Corbelli said her team’s ability to make some noise will depend a lot on the improvement at one position: the outside hitter.
“The main thing we have to improve on is our outside hitting percentages,” Corbelli said. “We’ve got really steady consistent middles that are experienced. There are other parts of our game we are continuing to work on, but our outside hitters know we are going to hold them to a higher standard this year.”
The biggest part of any collegiate athletic team is the leadership and experience of the senior class. A&M only returns two seniors this year in Shelby Sullivan and Angela Lowak. Sullivan was named to the All-SEC team before the season began. Corbelli knows how important they are to the team.
“I just had some parents say that they can’t believe how welcoming and what wonderful leaders the seniors are,” Corbelli said. “These two are not only important on the court, but off the court they are two of the most phenomenal kids. You can’t ask for a whole lot more to lead your team.”
For a team to gel, they need chemistry on and off the court. Senior Shelby Sullivan said this year’s team has good chemistry all around.
“This is such a special team,” Sullivan said. “You can tell in practice and the drive and energy the team has on and off the court. We’re excited.”
The Aggies opened up the 2015 season in the Stanford Tournament and split two games with No. 2 Stanford and Minnesota, They come back to College Station with a 1-1 record before hosting the Texas A&M Invitational.
After hosting the A&M Invitational, they will head out to the Hawkeye State for the Iowa Comfort Suites Challenge where they will take on Iowa, Iowa State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They will also head out to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. And then, of course, A&M will deal with the gauntlet that is the tough SEC schedule.
For this team, it is all about experience. While they are a young team, they have loads of experience on the court. Sullivan hopes that the up-and-coming players will take away one main piece of advice from them as they enter their final year.
“Never take anything for granted,” Sullivan said. “To work hard in practice and to become a smart player in game situations.”
