Sports > April 14, 2004

By Adam Alterman

Old Gold and Black Reporter

For Wake Forest volleyball, March and April have meant spring practice and tournament play, as the Deacons look to improve on their 21-10 campaign of 2003-04. 

So far, the Deacs have battled both injuries and opponents en route to posting an 11-4 record this spring.

“This is one of the best progressions of a team I have seen,” Head Coach Valorie Baker said. “Despite injuries, we were able to beat Duke and South Carolina.”

The volleyball coaching staff has seen this spring as “wonderful and enjoyable,” and the team has especially improved its consistency and intensity. Although the Deacs suffered three injuries, they look at it as an opportunity rather than a setback.

“This team is very determined to attain its fall goals,” Baker said. “The team feels very confident this is not only what we want to do, but this is what we will do.”

Junior middle blocker Morgan Havig said, “We plan on making this year our first appearance in the NCAAs and I believe that our team has the talent and determination to win the ACC this year.”

Several players on the team have decided to stay at Wake Forest over the summer. While coaches cannot tutor them this summer, these players will have full access to the training facilities and weight room.

“Our coaches always tell us that what we can’t do in practice, we won’t do during a game,” sophomore middle blocker Christy Williams said. “So we’ve all been pushing ourselves and each other to not settle for mediocrity, but to go for every ball no matter what. Our main goal for the fall is to be first in the ACC. The attitude that this goal is attainable is being formed this spring by demanding more of each other and ourselves both in practice and in the weight room.”

Through 15 games, the Deacs have faced solid competition at both home and away tournaments.

“Instead of focusing on wins and losses,” Williams said, “we’ve used the tournaments as a way to improve on our fundamentals and each week we seem to continually improve.”

The Deacs have focused this spring on improving the defensive game.

“We have been working a lot on our blocking and defense, and I think that we have done a good job improving these areas in practice this spring,” Havig said.

Sophomore A.J. Nicholas has impressed the coaches with her improvement in this area of her game.

“A.J. has done a great job,” Baker said.

Besides Nicholas, five other Deacs have stood out this spring through their positive play and work ethic.

Junior middle blocker Kim Stern elevated her game from the right side, according to the coaches. On the left side, both sophomore outside hitter Valerie Rydberg and freshman outside hitter Lauren Peterson have played wonderfully.

At middle blocker, Williams, who earned All-ACC, All-Region and honorable mention All-America honors last season, has continued to excel this spring. Havig has also had tremendous development as the second middle blocker, which will ease the pressure on Williams somewhat.

Havig suffered a hand injury against Clemson Oct. 11, 2003, which ended her 2003-04 season. The injury limited her practice time last fall.

Currently, the coaches are excited for this coming fall season. The players share in this excitement but know that they must keep pushing themselves.

“The lifting this spring has been pretty intense and I feel like we have all gotten a lot stronger,” Havig said. “I think everyone has worked hard this spring to make improvements on the weak areas of our game.”