University Southern California Trojans
2011 Season Outlook
August 24, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 24, 2011
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They say it's easier to be the hunter than the hunted, but the 2011 USC women's volleyball team has the unenviable task of being chased after by the majority of its opponents. The Women of Troy return three senior All-Americans from last year's squad that reached the NCAA Final Four for the sixth time in 11 years. The target was placed on the team this month after USC was ranked No. 2 nationally in the AVCA preseason poll.
USC head coach Mick Haley, now in his 11th season with the Trojans, understands the road will not be easy as 10 of the 15 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores.
"We focused all spring and summer on team unity because we felt like we have some things that could be upsetting and adding five freshmen to the mix is never easy," said Haley. "This is the first time we have had three All-Americans return in awhile and lead us, which is why I think we have a bulls-eye on our backs. There was the expectation that we would have two of the best outside hitters in the nation this year combined with going to the Final Four last year, but that will not be the case now. We have a group of people that are working hard to fill those holes. I think we can be as good as we were last year early on and hopefully be better by the end of the season."
Two-time All-America outside hitter Alex Jupiter (532 kills for a 4.40 kps in 2010, 2.51 dps and 625.0 points for a 5.17 pps), setter Kendall Bateman (1,567 assists, 12.34 aps) and middle blocker Lauren Williams (.417 hitting percentage, 115 blocks, 0.97 bps) represent the trio of seniors to lead the Trojans this season.
The focal point of the offense will run through Jupiter, who has the ability to break several records this season.
"She has to be up there among the USC all-time greats like Jennifer Kessy, April Ross and Keao Burdine in terms of overall production," said Haley. "She has put it on her back and carried a pretty heavy load. This is the first time that I have seen her be comfortable in that role. She does a lot of things very well, but her blocking is exceptional."
Similar to Jupiter, Bateman will have a chance to break the USC career mark for assists this season. The ability to have a senior setter is a luxury for many coaches and the Women of Troy will be more than happy to embrace having an experienced leader to quarterback the offense.
"I think Kendall's record here has been amazing in that she came in and was going to be an heir apparent, but was willing to come in and learn for two years," said Haley. "She got so good that she basically became our starting setter as a sophomore and just kept going from there. She is smooth and not real flashy, but she gets the job done. It was fun that people finally started to recognize her last year. You have to think about the quality setters that USC has produced: Debbie Green, Cathy Stukel and Kim Ruddins to name a few from the 1970s on and for Kendall to have an opportunity to set the career mark for assists shows her ability to improve every year."
Williams is a fifth-year senior, who has benefitted from redshirting her first season at USC.
"Normally, I'm not in favor of redshirting players. I think kids want to play and sometimes, they get lost in the process," said Haley. "This one decision, however, that Lauren and I made was the best decision for Lauren. It was better than I could have ever hoped for at the time. It took a whole year for her to get into the weight room and develop as a collegiate athlete. By her junior year, she became an All-American middle blocker and now as a senior, her maturity has kicked in. She handles situations so much better and is much stronger to do what we ask of her. If she plays overseas next year, she has the ability to play all the way around and fare quite well."
Sophomore libero Natalie Hagglund (497 digs for a 3.98 dps) is coming off a stint with the U.S. Junior National Team that finished fourth at the FIVB Volleyball Women's Junior World Championship Peru 2011. She was named Best Libero for the tournament after posting a 56.99 success percentage on 365 total attempts. She averaged 4.90 digs per set, the second-highest total in the tournament among all players.
"The hardest year is always your sophomore year, especially if you performed well as a freshman," said Haley. "April Ross can tell you, Keao Burdine can tell you that it's difficult. As a freshman here, you can just come in and play volleyball, but as a sophomore, you realize all of the dynamic opportunities here at USC and many times, it takes a while for a player to settle down. Natalie has played through the whole summer at Junior Nationals and the Junior World Championship. We need her to be stable for our team. I think she will find that it will be a little hectic at first and by October, she will settle down and be the player that she knows she can be."
USC's offense took an off-season hit with the loss of Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year Falyn Fonoimoana, but junior Katie Fuller (220 kills for a 1.86 kps and 272.0 points for a 2.31 pps) will have a chance to step into the void along with players like sophomores Kirby Burnham, Sara Shaw and members of the incoming freshman class.
"This provides an opportunity for some players," said Haley. "You have to remember that Kirby was our left-side hitter early last season with Falyn continuing to work on conditioning through the pre-season. Kirby sustained that position for the first few weeks of the season. We did not have a backup setter for Kendall so Kirby was a team player and started to work as a setter. The passing for our team is more critical than the points because I think we can make up the points. I feel like we have a team that is willing to accept that responsibility and go for it. The question is whether or not we can walk the walk. I feel confident that we can do this by committee this year because we are stable, we are athletic and focused."
Sophomore middle blocker Alexis Olgard (195 kills for a 1.73 kps, .366 hitting percentage, 0.82 bps, 259.0 points for a 2.29 pps) will miss the first few weeks of the season due to knee surgery in the spring, but is expected to be a quality middle for the Women of Troy this season.
"She is a special player and wants to be out on the court," said Haley. "She worked so hard in the offseason. If you put her and Natasa Siljkovic with (freshman Hannah) Schraer and the three of them learning behind Lauren, we have a pretty good nucleus if we can get them all healthy. It allows our setters more repetitions on our quick attack and timing of our in-system play. As we go through the season, you will really see Alexis emerge."
After bringing in the top recruiting class last season, the Women of Troy brought in a class rated 10th in the nation by Prep Volleyball. USC now has two backup setters for Bateman in Hayley Crone (Temecula/Great Oak HS) and Emily Young (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg HS). Young is a 6-1 left-hander that also will play as an outside hitter. 6-2 outside hitter Eve Ettinger (Santa Barbara/Santa Barbara HS) and 6-3 middle blocker Hannah Schraer (Arcadia/Mayfield High) will add to the team's depth while 5-9 defensive specialist Bria Russ (Long Beach/Poly HS) is an athletic player with a jump serve in the mold of former Women of Troy player Geena Urango.
"Everyone in this class will have a chance to play," said Haley. "Hannah might get a chance to start the first few weeks. She has had some up-and-downs in practice, but she is a young player that can get a chance and make a few steps up which excites us. Hayley has done a great job in practice and Kendall has done a wonderful job in complimenting her to keep her confidence up. That is what you expect from your seniors is being able to bring along the freshmen."
"Emily is one heck of a physical player. She comes in and is able to set, but she can really bring the heat as a right-side hitter. If you set her right, she can score some points. Eve is the player that has been the most surprising to me. She has a low-error, good passing control game. She has been really focused this fall. Bria is another player that has a chance to play this year because she has the foot speed to chase balls down and jumping ability to hit out of the back row."
A 3-0 loss to California in the NCAA Final Four last season provided a disappointing finish, but Haley is quick to point out that the team can build on that experience for the 2011 season.
"We have to be careful with how we approach it after what happened last year. We peaked at the end of the season and if we didn't peak when we did with such a young group, we might not have gotten to the Final Four," said Haley. "When we got to the Final Four, we probably didn't have any gas left in the tank. We had no seniors playing out there, but with some of the changes we have this year and the fact that we have to earn our way there again this year, I don't think anything is guaranteed so we have to go through the season and see how good we can get. I believe we are over that part and any new freshmen that will be in the lineup will be strong enough to trust their teammates."
USC will not get any breaks in terms of the pre-season schedule with the first seven matches on the road, the first time since the 2002 national championship campaign that the Women of Troy will not see action at home before the start of conference play. They make two cross-country trips in the first two weeks, first to Pennsylvania for the AVCA Showcase against No. 12 Minnesota and No. 1 and four-time defending national champion Penn State. A trip to a tournament the following weekend hosted by Florida Gulf Coast will feature an amazing stretch of five matches in the span of five days with the final match taking place back in California at Cal State Northridge.
"We felt like Penn State is going to be one of the teams to beat this season so we felt like we needed to play them to find out where we are and experience their style of play," said Haley. "Likewise, Minnesota will be a challenging test for us in our season opener. We will just have to deal with it and try to use the experience of being on the road to our advantage."
This will be the first season for the Pac-12 Conference, adding Colorado and Utah to the mix. Every team will play 22 conference matches, consisting of a true double-round-robin schedule. The need to travel from Salt Lake City to Boulder or vice versa on successive nights will prove to be a daunting task.
"Those programs (Colorado and Utah) will be good at home and will only get better," said Haley. "Both programs are very competitive and will help to make one of the top volleyball conferences in the nation even better."
The Women of Troy have not made back-to-back Final Four appearances since 2004, but USC definitely has its sights set on heading to San Antonio for a chance at the school's seventh national championship in December.
"The most important thing is what the team feels in terms of trying to win a national championship," said Haley. "This team feels like they have that ability. They have the competitiveness and the drive. That is their mentality and I love teams like this because this is what the world is made of in terms of people that want to overachieve. My hat is off to this year's team. I will work 110 per cent because they are really trying to go for it. I think they can do this, but we are going to need a little bit of luck. We have the experience to lead us and the effort and attitude all the way down to the freshmen."
