By: Sean Crocker, BA'18
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The St. Thomas women's volleyball team is looking to grind out another successful year in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association.
After a season that saw them make their second consecutive appearance in the ACAA semi-finals, head coach Don McKay is looking to help his young team take the next step toward a championship.
"We have 10 first-year players and we think they will learn to compete at this level very quickly," McKay said. "We have three players coming in who have played at a high level already. Those three in particular have experience through their schools and clubs."
McKay acknowledged that with a young team there's a need for veteran leadership, which will fall on the shoulders of two fourth-year players.
"We have two fourth-year players. Jessica Barna, who's been with the program all the way through and we also have Deidre Jones, who transferred over from Cape Breton University and played for us for the first time last year."
Although there are many factors that can define a team and their style of play, this year's Tommies group will look to be more defensive minded while maintaining their offensive prowess.
"We have a very competitive league. Any team is capable of beating any other team on any given day," McKay said. "My team will be called upon to be a defensive minded group because we love the offence, so we have to focus on getting that first pass."
With such a young team there will be growing pains, so McKay is emphasizing the importance of patience.
"The biggest challenge will be having some patience," McKay said. "They have to learn to play at this speed. It's different than what they've come through and based on what I have seen and how they're progressing, they're going to make mistakes. Even our experienced players make mistakes, but it's what you do after that that counts."
This edition of the Tommies possesses a lot of athleticism, and McKay believes there's a window of opportunity to take advantage of.
"Our goal is definitely getting back into the playoffs. We were in the semi-finals last year, and this year we would like to make it to the championship," McKay said.
"The idea is that every player gets better day in and day out, and at the end of the day we want to be able to compete and hopefully win the banner."