By Brian Roe, Sports Writer
On a team that carries 15 players, senior Haylee Hartline symbolically wears the No. 3 on her jersey.
Translation: only three of the 15 players on the 2003 Lady Wildcat volleyball team have completed two years of school.
The volleyball team is young this year, as 12 of the 15 players are underclassmen, which includes seven freshmen. Hartline, second team all-Lone Star Conference last season as an outside hitter, is the only senior on the roster.
Head coach Brek Horn said having a younger team is nothing new for the Lady Wildcats.
“Youth is always a concern,” said the fifth-year coach. “But we had a young team last year with five freshmen, so I think we’ll be fine.
“The freshmen from last year got valuable playing time and gained a lot of experience. We obviously are expecting both the freshmen and sophomores to contribute this season.”
Last season, ACU finished 19-13, but missed getting one of the top three spots in the conference to earn a bid to the postseason. ACU is picked to finish second in the conference this year, behind powerhouse West Texas A&M, according to a LSC preseason poll.
“We might be picked to finish second, but I think we have a good chance of being the champions of the whole conference,” Horn said.
Before taking on the conference, the Lady Wildcats will kick off the season Aug. 28 with an airplane ride to the Rockhurst Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. The team will fly to Kansas City Thursday and begin play against Wayne State Friday at 3 p.m.
Playing against tougher competition is the key to the pre-conference tournaments, assistant coach Nora Oglesby said.
“Regional competition is the main focus at the out-of-state tournaments,” said the former ACU player. “I think seven of the eight teams we play are ranked, so it will be a good test for the team.”
The team might not be tested in a match that counts yet, but its limits have been tested during the pre-season workouts. The volleyball players average eight hours a day in drills, running and weight lifting; including two-a-days for the last two weeks.
Freshman outside hitter Callie Delabano from Aledo said practice in high school and practice in college are a little bit different.
“I guess intensity is the biggest difference,” said the 5-foot-10-inch freshman. “Practices here are a lot more difficult and a lot more challenging.”
Delabano will be one of the new players challenging for playing time this year. The team will only take 12 players to Kansas City, meaning three players, likely freshmen, will not make the trip.
All 15 of the team members, however, made the trip to Gardener State Park for a team retreat earlier this week. Team unity was the theme of the retreat according to sophomore Michelle Bernhardt.
“We did some high and low ropes courses and other team-building stuff,” said Bernhardt. “We also did some fun stuff like floating the river and so on.”
No matter how young the players are this season for the volleyball team, team chemistry is the most important thing if the team plans on making the postseason, according to sophomore Lindsay Martin.
“The more you’re a team off the court, the more you will be on the court,” said Martin.
