Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
“We had something to prove”: Volleyball posts strong start in conference play
10/13/2021 7:14:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The team has started C-USA play 5-1, and is undefeated at home this fall
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — It doesn't take long watching a Tuesday morning practice for an observer to feel the positive energy around Middle Tennessee volleyball.
The day's emphasis, improving the team's blocking ahead of a road series this weekend against a Top 25 opponent, makes for a tough day in the gym. Physically, of course, from the jumping needed when blocking to the punishment from diving for digs. But also mentally, working on muscle memory, feeling when you get juked by the opposing setter, and improving your reads.
But even as head coach Chuck Crawford challenges his team, they respond. Communicating, improving, getting better with each rep. And the team's blocking technique that started the day still rusty from an abbreviated preseason finished already looking much improved.
"It's just really cool coming in every day to a group of people that are ready to work and play and go hard and be there for you," right side hitter Kayla Henley said.
The practice could be a bit of a microcosm into how the Blue Raider volleyball program's season has gone. Overcoming early season challenges, from disappointing results on the court to injuries and COVID protocols forcing a break in their season just ahead of conference play, to burst into C-USA with five wins in six games, including four straight wins at home to open the season, the team's best home start since 2008.
"Number one, if you're going to boast of anything, boast about what God does," Crawford said when asked about his team's past few weeks. He doesn't want too much praise personally for how his team has played in C-USA East division, sweeping Charlotte and FIU at home and splitting matches on the road at Marshall. But, he acknowledges his team has responded to the adversity that's hit them, both in the season at large and in each individual match.
"They always believe that they're in the match," Crawford said. "They understand now that if the ball is still in play, and the game's not over, then they still have an opportunity. We've been down big a few times this year. Nine, 11 points (in a set), and come back to win. They believe they're still in the fight until the last point hits."
Henley said the team's early season pause, coming after a 1-2 weekend in Jacksonville, Ala., helped the players reset and get in a better headspace as a group.
"Once we finally all got back together, we had something to prove," middle blocker Michaela Wright said. "And I think that really fueled the success that we're experiencing right now."
It took a bit of time, with split matches at a tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., and then a final non-conference blip in a road loss to UT Martin. But the team's first C-USA weekend showed them what they could be.
A 3-1 win over the 49ers on Friday, followed by a dominant fifth set in a 3-2 win on Saturday, gave the team the spark they needed to get their confidence back, setter Taylor Eisert said.
"We had a couple of team meetings and said 'hey, we need to change something, because the road we are going down right now is not the best,'" Eisert said. "After our first two Charlotte games, we started getting hope again, like 'oh, we're actually good and we can do this.'"
The run has featured a lot of personal milestones for the players. Eisert just became the fastest Blue Raider to 1,000 career assists in the modern rally scoring era, while Henley set a career high in kills in a match on Saturday against FIU. Melisa Nur Temiz is fourth in the conference in service aces, while Marley Banton is fourth in the conference in digs.
But the internal focus, as it has to be in a sport like volleyball, is on the team as a whole, and how to continue the momentum against one of the top teams in the country this weekend. Western Kentucky is currently No. 20 in the AVCA Coaches' poll, and sits at 16-1, having won their last nine matches in straight sets.
"We've got to win the serve and pass battle, that's a given every match, but also staying in the fight," Crawford said of the keys to upsetting the Hilltoppers this weekend. "We cannot let them go on multiple three point, four point runs. If you go down 11 points to Western, you're not coming back."
Wright, a grad transfer from UT-Arlington, is confident that if her team plays together, and plays like they have at their toughest over the past three weekends, they've got a shot at upending the conference standings.
"If anybody in the conference is going to get a chance to take down a ranked team, I think it's us," Wright said. "We have the grit to do it."
