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Mountaineers Return to the Court
August 07, 2015 05:07 PM | Volleyball
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – West Virginia volleyball coach Reed Sunahara got his first look at his new team on Friday when the Mountaineers officially opened their 2015 preseason camp at the WVU Coliseum.
The squad reported back to campus on Thursday for team meetings before taking the court on Friday afternoon for a pair of practices. The Mountaineers have 15 days to prep for the annual Gold and Blue Scrimmage, which will take place August 22 at 4 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum.
“It’s really exciting,” said Sunahara. “I’m excited to be here, excited to start. It’s all of the above. For the most part, we’ve got a good group of kids and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
Sunahara took over the program in March and has brought in nine newcomers to join seven returners in the locker room. Seniors Brittany Sample, who is expected to transition back to setter after spending last season at both setter and defensive specialist, and middle blocker Caleah Wells will be the most experienced returners, though libero Gianna Gotterba, who enters her sophomore season, and junior middle blocker Hannah Shreve both worked their way into the starting lineup last season. Defensive specialist Melvina Brown, outside hitter Morgan Montgomery and setter Haley Roe also return to the court for the Mountaineers.
Joining Sunahara in Morgantown are assistant coaches Rebecca Rudnick and Sean Byron. Rudnick, who serves as WVU’s recruiting coordinator, spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Liberty while Byron joins the Mountaineer coaching staff from the Ohio State men’s program.
“Now that I have my staff together, I think it’s going to be good,” said Sunahara. “In the spring it was pretty scattered. I felt bad because I was by myself and I had to recruit and be with them. Being in two places at one time was really hard. But they adapted, and we’re together now. We’re a family and hopefully we can do some big things.”
Four of the new Mountaineers boast collegiate volleyball experience. Outside hitter/middle blocker Mia Swanegan saw action during her freshman season at TCU, while Taylor Cross played defensive specialist as a rookie at New Mexico. Right side Dzeni Hadzisehovic played at Wyoming Community College before transferring to North Idaho College as a sophomore and libero/defensive specialist MaTia Hughes played two seasons at NYU.
West Virginia opens the 2015 season August 28 when they play Oakland in a 4:30 p.m. match at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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