Friday night will mark the first time the St. Thomas Tommies women’s volleyball will touch the court in ACAA play since February 29th, 2020, and head coach Don McKay has his team ready to roll into another season of play.
The Tommies have played numerous exhibition games leading into the 2021-22 season and with 11 new players since the last time they took the floor in ACAA competition McKay knew he needed a big exhibition schedule to get his team ready.
“Currently we have played several exhibition matches in preparation for league play, but really it has just been about the process up to now, seeing who could play where and how quickly the new players could adapt.”
Returning to the Tommies from 2019-20 are Caitlin Jones, Maddie MacGregor, Danica Godin, Hailee Fleck, Rebecca Pippy, while Gabrielle Melanson and Ryley Horton return from last year’s exhibition schedule.
“Our team graduated six very good players last year and you cannot replace that experience overnight,” said McKay about his team for the upcoming season. “We are going to be young, but also quite athletic.”
New additions to the Tommies are Megan MacDonald, Chloe Little, Abby Lanteigne, Sydney Doyle, Lauren Moerike, Madison Ball, Megan Bowen, and Julia Campbell and Shannon Munro, who will be thrust into immediate playing time due to an injury to Jones.
“I expect that many of my rookies will have earned starting or contributing roles when the season starts based on their work ethic and success to date in our exhibition games.”
With such a large roster turnover, McKay knows his team will have to gel quickly and that some of his newer players will have to step up if they want to repeat the success they found in 2019-20.
“To make a deep run in the playoffs our rookies are going to have to be big contributors and our players as a whole will need to serve strong and pass well. I am hoping our athletic abilities will allow us to adapt quickly, but it is really hard to make any predictions when we haven't seen any of the teams outside of New Brunswick.”
The Tommies will open their season Friday, October 29th in Moncton when they play Crandall University and their home opener will be Sunday, October 31st when they host the UNBSJ Seawolves.