With two new players, the Lady Bulldog volleyball team plans to condition this summer as players look forward to what they hope will be a successful fall season.
Sept. 6 marks the volleyball team’s first game for fall 2013. The first home game is Sept. 10 against Harding University, which is in Searcy, Ark.
Union’s win against University of West Alabama was one of the team’s highlights last fall season. Overall, the team’s game ratio set to 7-28 for the 2012- 2013 year.
Because Union athletics is still undergoing the transition process from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the volleyball team won’t be eligible to play in post-season competition until 2014.
Although it has been a challenging year for Union’s volleyball team, this year marked Christine Mooberry’s first year as head volleyball coach as well as that of her assistant, Lauren Ruther.
Under their leadership, the two plan to make progress next fall in more ways than one.
Union recently signed two new players to the women’s volleyball team — Hannah Huguley and McKenna Carter — who both plan to be freshman social work majors next fall.
Ruther said she is confident the new additions have the potential to push the team toward a higher level of effort and strategy implemented in the game.
Huguley, a 5-foot-10 setter from Clay, Ala., played four seasons of varsity volleyball in high school, earning an area championship in 2011 and 2012, and later made a state tournament appearance in 2012.
Huguley was named area most valuable player and all-state north setter and was varsity team captain.
Carter, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Mishawaka, Ind., was voted volleyball team captain during her senior year of high school and MVP of the Plymouth tournament.
During her high school tenure, her volleyball team received back-to-back state championships for 2011 and 2012.
Ruther expects good results for the team to run different plays, especially because the team will have fewer than seven freshmen in 2013.
In addition, Moobery said Jami Humphries, junior broadcasting and journalism major, and Micaela Bailey, freshman exercise science major, have the potential to lead the team this fall.
For the summer months, volleyball athletes receive a workout plan.
The summer workouts encourage training that focuses on building fast twitch muscles.
“Short distances of fast running and explosiveness, things like interval running, jump rope, jump training” are suggested, Mooberry said. “Volleyball is a sport that, although it can last a few hours, mainly requires shorter bursts of energy and power but with breaks in between.”
At the end of the summer, athletes undergo fitness testing during which they are evaluated on their condition.
“We all need to come into the season with our best fitness level possible so that we can start focusing on skill and putting things together on the court rather than getting players up to a certain fitness level,” Mooberry said.
During the fall season, volleyball players attend a two-hour practice session after class every day, whereas in the spring, players practice after class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for two hours.
“I think the thing I’m looking forward to most (this fall) is to see our new recruits come in and see how we all get closer as a team and interact well together,” said Kristen Cook, freshman psychology major. “I’m excited to see how much we’ll grow and push during the summer and come back and be conditioned and ready for any practices and fitness testing.
“I’m excited to see how much we’ll improve over the summer and before our first games.”
