Author: Lizeth Castillo
As the season gets ready to go into full swing, the women’s volleyball team is steadily preparing to bring all it can to the court. First-years were recruited for the first time in more than two years, some of whom include middle-blocker Maggie Berrigan and setters Megan Upp and Emily Repsher. With new players comprising more than one-third of the team this season, they are working harder than ever to solidify bonds on and off the court.
Libero/setter Ginger Grimes (junior) reveals how team dynamics have changed for the better since last year, and relates how the new recruits bring a new attitude and style to the squad. “They are setting the foundations for this program to be amazing not only in future years, but we can do some damage this year as well,” she said.
Since the season officially began on Sept. 4, the team has been playing back-to-back games twice a week. So how do they find the energy and motivation to stay strong week after week? According to Grimes, most of the players played volleyball as a club sport in high school, which has accustomed them to nine or ten hours of back-to-back games.
In addition to this preconditioning, the squad is training hard and pushing themselves to bring the best they can to each game. “Our coach pushes us in practice to our physical and mental limit to make sure that we approach each match prepared for anything,” Grimes said. “In back-to-back matches, we have to be prepared to play from anywhere between six and ten games.”
During the team’s recent matches against Chapman University and La Sierra, its intense training paid off with quick rebounds, attacks, and rallies. Throughout the entire first half of Oxy’s game against Chapman, the team kept its energy level high and managed to keep Chapman on their toes with good adjustments by Kathryn Bockmon (junior) and Logan Boyer-Hayse (first-year), with noteworthy blocks delivered by Bockmon, Grimes, and Kasey Rose (first-year). “It’s exhausting, but we have a deep enough bench that we’ll still play hard even when our starting lineup isn’t on,” Grimes said.
With hardly any down-time between games, the girls must rely on each other for motivation between games and throughout the season. “Usually we would have at least an hour between games, but lately with the way things have been going, we’ve only had thirty minutes or so between games,” libero Carin Montelogo (first-year) said. “I’m not going to say we don’t get tired because we do, or at least I do, but we always have each other to bring us back up. When I’m tired or sore or injured even, all I need to do is look around myself, and then I see five reasons why I should keep pushing.”
As the team approaches its 13th game of the season, most of them played on double-days, the team must rely on their aggressive training and solidarity to work their way to the top. “Like a lot of sports, volleyball is a very mental game,” Grimes said. “It’s a game based on mistakes.”
The team will face-off with La Sierra and Santa Cruz at the UC Santa Cruz Tournament on Friday, Sept. 25.
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