- Photo from Web
The fall season is well underway for college athletics. For the Connecticut College women’s volleyball team, this means another successful season to look forward to. The Camels have made the NESCAC Championship Tournament six years in a row, and the 2011 season is likely to be no different. Led by senior co-captains Amy Newman and Ally Terlizzi, CCVB is off to a great start with a 5-2 overall record, and a 2-0 record in interleague play.
Head Coach Josh Edmed, in his tenth season with the team, has nothing but high hopes for the team this fall. The success of the Camels will depend in part on the leadership and competitive tenacity of Edmed’s co-captains, as they “will be relied upon needed to assist CCVB in creating and capturing moments of success.”
Coach Edmed says that the coaching staff does not formulate specific goals or expectations on paper. Instead, he says that goals and expectations are “something that the players establish amongst themselves” through conversation at the onset of the season, specifically focusing on “how they can utilize everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.”
The team also sets expectations for one another. Edmed notes that the team “feels strongly that they need to push each other constantly to bring out the best and that failure is part of this process.” With only two seniors on the roster, the young team has developed a system where they hold each other accountable for both the successes and weaknesses on the court. Each team member has an opportunity to contribute to success, Coach Edmed believes.
After starting the season on the road, the Camels returned to Luce Fieldhouse to open NESCAC play on Friday, September 16. The roaring fans were greeted with free pizza and Camel pride T-shirts. However, the giveaways weren’t the only reason why the stands stayed full. After losing their first match against Williams, the ladies came back with a vengeance to defeat the Ephs in the next three games. Saturday’s match up against Hamilton proved to be another triumphant team effort as the Camels cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Continentals.
Captain Ally Terlizzi ’12 was impressed with the Camels start, both on and off the court. Voicing the same expectations as Edmed, Terlizzi says that “The team’s two NESCAC wins and their record in conference shows the team unity they’ve strived for”. After such a great kick-off weekend at home, Terlizzi believes that they “need to keep up their positive spirit and continue their constant communication with each other on the court going into every match”—doing so will ultimately land them a spot back in the NESCAC Championship Tournament.
In her final season, Terlizzi wants to make sure that she and her co-captain Amy Newman ’12 leave the women’s volleyball program with a positive outlook on what the team has achieved. After such a strong start, Camel fans are likely to see more exciting, passionate action from the team. Be sure to make it down to the Luce Fieldhouse; CCVB is more than prepared to spike any opponent they face. •
