This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2021-22 season for the Medaille College women.
After a 1-week push back, we’re a couple of days away from the start of the second semester at Medaille. Time for an update after a relatively busy two months away from the court.
Scheduling
I actually had to turn in our proposed Fall 2022 schedule a couple weeks ago for the budget process. It isn’t entirely set just yet. We await details from the tournaments we scheduled for the first three weeks of the season. We also don’t know yet about a potential tri-match that might happen around one of our conference fixtures. Depending how the tournaments and that tri-match fall, out we will play between 24 and 28 matches over 20 dates.
Recruiting
We had a S/DS/L recruit from California visit in early December. She has since officially committed to Medaille as our third recruited player for 2022. I also had another S/DS/L type player from Puerto Rico verbally commit yesterday saying she’d be depositing soon. Adding both gets us to 4 setters for next season, offering the option to run a 6-2 with reasonable coverage and a good training set-up. The fact that all three setters we’re bringing in can also play DS/L is an important consideration as well. Since we are likely losing the three players who filled the libero role this past season (two finishing their academic programs, the other to physical issues), we have a big need there. I like the idea of players with good hands filling the libero spot.
I also added another player to our commitment list. She was recruited for Lacrosse, but also plays volleyball. Strong student, and a good personality from what the Women’s LAX coach told me. She’s a pin hitter, though a bit on the smaller side, so we’ll see how she fits in.
I mentioned in the last update that I added an Admissions commit to the incoming roster as well. So now we’re on 5 official commits plus one pending, which puts next year’s roster at 11 (probably). The biggest positional need we still have to fill is MB. I’m seriously beating the bushes there – both in terms of high school recruits and potential transfers. I’d also like to find another strong pin.
Academics
The team GPA for the first term was disappointing, particularly in comparison to last year. One player very seriously dragged the group down, though there were a couple others who didn’t really meet their potential. Got some work to do in the second term to if the team is to repeat its Team Academic Award.
That said, it does look like we’ll get 1-2 more players on the Academic All-Conference list this year. That doesn’t come out until after the school year is over, though it’s based on end of 1st term grades.
Looking ahead
I won’t have any on-court contact with the team until probably late March, per NCAA rules. No doubt they will start doing open gym sessions as soon as the school allows them based on local covid numbers. In the meanwhile, I’ll keep working on recruiting – both finishing up the 2022 class and starting to get 2023 rolling.
6 Steps to Better Practices - Free Guide
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter today and get this free guide to making your practices the best, along with loads more coaching tips and information.
