2006 Volleyball Outlook

First-year head coach Emily Hayes begins her tenure at the helm of Guilford’s volleyball program with a young team and high expectations.  The Quakers return the core of their young 2005 squad, and have seven letter winners back from last year’s 8-18 team.  Hayes is excited to begin with a fresh start and bring new ideas to the team’s practices and games. 

Recognizing the limitations of a young and small squad Hayes will implement a faster offense to compensate for Guilford’s lack of size up front.  There will be a new focus on the team’s conditioning, core strength, and athleticism.  Faster offensive sets require improved passing, defense, and quickness, which are vital to successfully executing the offense.  The team also needs to be able to work well ‘out-of-system’ in order to game-plan for contingencies. 

“People are going to be all over the court when we play out-of-system” said Hayes.  “As a team we are going to need to be able to pass and set in addition to our position specific responsibilities.  We will be focusing on fundamentals, foot speed, and court awareness in this system.”

Six of the seven returning student-athletes for Guilford played in an average of 71 games in 2005.  This experience bodes well for the Quakers as they begin the season.  Sophomore Becca Jones leads the way as the club’s top returning setter, and is joined for a second year by high school teammate junior Jenny Conner. Sophomore Jessica Smith recorded 100 kills as a backup middle hitter last year, tops among the veterans.  Kaci Loeffler, the team’s defensive specialist, recorded 219 digs last year, recorded a .917 receive average, and is the Quakers’ most versatile player.  Meagan Tucker, a right-side hitter, and Taylor Brown, tops in service aces, round out the Quakers veterans. 

Joining sophomore Jennifer Treiber on the team’s back row are first-year players Cierra Briggs and Bethany Hawks.  Briggs adds depth to both the teams hitting and defense, while Hawks will share the load with Jones at setter.  Junior Katie Spina and freshman Mary Scales bring some much-needed height to Guilford’s front blocking line measuring in at 5-10 and 6-2, respectively.

The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) coaches tabbed the Quakers ninth in the 11-team preseason poll. Guilford’s tough non-conference schedule should prepare the young Quakers for their challenging ODAC matches later in the year. Hayes’ goals for the team are to finish matches strong, improve the teams mental approach to the game, challenge the league's top teams, and reach the ODAC Tournament in November for the first time in three seasons. The Quakers open the season in Atlanta, GA playing in the Oglethorpe Tournament.  Guilford returns to Greensboro for its home opener on September 6 before heading cross-town to compete in the Greensboro College Invitational September 8-9.