Volleyball Freshman Thriving

From today's Ventura County Star:

Volleyball freshmen thriving

By Rhiannon Potkey
Thursday, September 10, 2009

Cal Lutheran women’s volleyball coach Kellee Roesel expected her incoming freshmen would barely survive the first week of practice.
Roesel figured she would work them into the rotation later in the season once they were more comfortable.
But plans changed.
Not only did the freshmen survive, they thrived.
“They stepped up immediately,” Roesel said. “They gave the returning players everything they could handle and were winning drills. That was really a pleasant surprise.”
The early indoctrination continued over the weekend at the Trinity River Classic in Texas. Freshman Rachel Smith won the starting outside hitter spot for CLU () after a performance that earned the 5-foot-7 Newbury Park High graduate all-tournament honors.
“She proved she could really be something special at this level,” Roesel said. “It looks like there is nothing to her, but she jumps out of the gym. That kid does a lot of the right things.”
CLU, ranked No. 14 in the nation, will be hosting its own tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational features 14 teams, and each team is guaranteed four matches.
“We have a lot of good West Region teams coming, so it should really give us an idea of what we are going to be facing in the playoffs,” Roesel said. “Plus, we get to see all the strong teams in our conference and that will be an advantage.”
CLU finished last season as the NCAA West Regional runner-up and returns 11 players from that squad.
Allison Kerr, Erin Exline, Cori Hayes and Megan Thorpe are among the statistical leaders back in the rotation.
But it’s the seven freshmen, which includes setters Lindsey Walsh and Jackie Russell of Newbury Park, who could determine CLU’s potential.
“This could be the best recruiting class I have had,” said Roesel, in her fourth season. “Every day at practice is going to be so competitive and a battle for positions. That is exactly the way I want it. It will push everyone to improve.”
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is holding a conference tournament for the first time this year in volleyball.
The top four teams will meet in early November to determine the SCIAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
“We just need to be playing really good by the end of the month and just keep getting better,” she said. “The conference is going to be an all-out battle and hopefully our kids can step up to the challenge. But I am pretty excited about this group.”