Volleyball Wraps Up Spring Season
April 29, 2015 03:47 PM | General
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| Coach Reed Sunahara talks to Alexa Oblak. |
| Photo courtesy of Dan Shreve |
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Reed Sunahara era got off to an (unofficial) start when this past month when the West Virginia University volleyball team completed its spring slate, traveling to a trio of tournaments in the month of April.
It was Sunahara’s first chance to see his team on the court after taking over the program in March. West Virginia was allowed a 34-day spring practice and competition schedule.
“I thought our team worked hard all spring,” said Sunahara. “I have seen tremendous improvement in their skills and fitness level. We need to continue to get better as we prepare for the upcoming season.”
The Mountaineers kicked off their spring schedule on April 4, when they traveled to Oxford, Ohio, to take on Cleveland State and host Miami (OH) University. The squad split the matches, taking a win from Cleveland State and falling to Miami.
“We played a variety of teams this spring,” said assistant coach Kevin Carroll. “I think the team was a little nervous and anxious to play at Miami. Our individual skills are still coming along but as a team I thought we played well. Whether trailing or leading during the match, we were able to stay composed. Though we lost to Miami in four sets, it was a good experience for the team and showed us what we needed to focus on.”
Returning to Ohio the following weekend, WVU traveled to Athens to face Fairmont State, Wright State and host Ohio University. Playing hour-long matches that consisted of two sets to 25 points and one to 15, the Mountaineers left with a trio of wins.
“We saw major improvements with our ball control, mainly our serve receive, from our first spring weekend to the Ohio tournament,” said Carroll. “Our strongest match came against Ohio, as we were able to limit our errors and serve a tough match to beat a good Ohio squad.”
West Virginia headed east for its final road trip of the spring season, traveling to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for a five-team tournament at Lehigh. In addition to the Mountain Hawks the Mountaineers took on Cornell, Binghamton and East Stroudsburg, returning to Morgantown with a perfect record.
“It was fun to be able to go out and win this tournament,” said Carroll. “I saw our best defensive performance and side-out transition in this tournament. We played a good Cornell team in pool play and in the finals as well, beating them both times. We served tough, dug more balls than they did, extended rallies and put pressure on them to make errors.”
In wrapping up the spring action, West Virginia hosted an alumni game on April 25 at the WVU Coliseum. Recent alums including Karly Rasmussen, Liz Gulick, Abby Monson, Arielle Allen and Andrea Miller, along with 2014 senior Evyn McCoy, returned for the occasion.
“It was a great turnout by the alumni for our event on Saturday,” said Sunahara. “I would like to thank them for coming and playing, as we would love for them to be more involved in the program. It was nice to see the people that paved the way for our players.”
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