WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL at D.C. Volleyball Challenge
WHEN: Friday, Aug. 26-Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016
WHERE: Bender Arena (American University) – Friday; RAC Gym (Mason) – Saturday
OPPONENTS: Howard – Friday, 5 p.m.; American – Saturday, 1:30 p.m.; Georgetown – Saturday, 7 p.m.
FAIRFAX, Va. – For the 12th season in a row, George Mason University's women's volleyball team will open its season with the D.C. Volleyball Challenge, an annual tournament that it will co-host along with American University over the weekend.
Mason will feature in the tournament-opening match on Friday, when it meets Howard on neutral grounds at Bender Arena in Washington D.C. The contest will be a repeat of last August's match that the Patriots won in four sets to improve to 16-2 in the all-time series against the Bison.
Another success on Friday, however, will not be on top of head coach Jackie Simpson-Kirr's wishlist.
“Our main focus right now isn't the wins and losses, but in respecting the learning process and in our growth as a team,” she said a day before first serve.
After a very short turnaround, Mason will take the court again on Saturday for another pair of matches, this time in their own RAC Gym in Fairfax. In the afternoon, Mason will take on American, the only team that it could not defeat in last year's edition, and in the night cap it will welcome Georgetown, which the Patriots handled in three sets last year in Simpson-Kirr's debut.
Mason had a busy offseason which saw seven new faces introduced to the roster – liberos Magee Bailey, Kendal Hall and Jessica Onuorah, middle blockers Kelly Fagan and Katrina Santos, and outside hitters Mikala Wells and Bailey Williams – to bolster the team defensively and offensively. In addition to all of them looking forward to their first weekend of intercollegiate volleyball, Simpson-Kirr enhanced her staff with assistant coach Eric Arriaga who, too, will make his Mason debut in the D.C. Volleyball Challenge.
“Every time you have a lot of new people, there is this excitement in the air,” Simpson-Kirr, a former Wisconsin standout, admitted.
She also expressed her pride and gratitude in the leadership that her nine returning players – sophomores Catie Espinoza and Maddie French, juniors Sydney Fanoga, Jordan Glass, Ashley Mennes and Kelly Schaller, and seniors Tiffany Clarke, Jessie Greenslade and Caitlyn Hipsher – have expressed during the short few weeks that the group has spent on the court and off it so that the newcomers feel right in place.
“I think it has been really cool to see our upperclassmen take the freshmen under their wing and create a super positive environment to make sure that the new girls understand the system that we are running,” she said.
In addition to building team chemistry and figuring everyone's place on the court, a new defensive system was introduced to the table by second-year assistant coach Taylor Unroe, who was an outstanding defender herself during her time at Florida and the 2013 SEC Libero of the Year.
“The girls have really taken a hold of it and have done great things with it, so we are all really excited to see it in action against somebody else,” Simpson-Kirr said.
Although a competitive player herself not too long ago, as a coach the Downers Grove, Ill. native wants to instill in her players that not digs and kills, but rather the aforementioned togetherness and championship behavior will be the team's main strengths in the upcoming season. This championship behavior, characterized by passion, accountability, trust “and all other elements that are really important to the underlined values that make us who we are” could take the program, as a whole, to the next level.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NET
Howard went 0-3 in last year's D.C. Volleyball Challenge on their way to a 3-12 non-conference record, but the Bison's season quickly turned around. Mason's first opponent of the weekend was nothing less than dominant in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play and lost only one regular season match before losing only a set over three matches in the MEAC tournament to earn its bid to the NCAA tournament. At the big stage, head coach Shaun Kupferberg's team was handed a tough draw and lost to No. 7 Penn State.
In 2016, the Bison returns its best attacker Khaila Donaldson from last season (405 kills, 3.49 kills/set) and its best defender Morgan Marlbrough (493 digs, 4.25 digs/set). Setter Briana Jackson, who caused the most damage from the service line among all Howard players last season also returns for her senior season.
American enjoyed an even better 2015 season and breezed through the Patriot League, allowing their opponents to win only four combined sets in the 16 regular season contests and the two rounds of the conference tournament on the way to its 13th conference title in the last 15 years. The Eagles then continued their five-match sweep streak with an identical win over Kentucky in the NCAA First Round before Ohio State put ann end on American's memorable season on the next day.
However, the Eagles will face Mason without four of its five leading attackers in 2015 as well four of its five best defenders. Granted, it is American's leading defender Hoakalei Dawson who returns to build on her 433-dig sophomore season.
After the defeat to Mason, Georgetown picked up consecutive wins only twice during the season and completed its season with a 10-21 overall record and a 4-14 record in the Big East, which resulted in the Hoyas missing out on the conference tournament once again.
Outside hitter Alyssa Sinnette was one of the bright spots in Georgetown's season and now returns as a sophomore beaming with confidence after leading the team in attack last season – 372 kills and 3.58 kills/set. Setter Paige McKnight, also a sophomore, returns as well after orchestrating the Hoyas' attack with 1,137 assists in 2015. Libero Kenzie Higareda's team-high 544 digs freshman season also hinted of the talent that young Georgetown will boast during the 2016 campaign.
