MAC Volleyball Team Previews: Kent State Golden Flashes
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Since being named the seventh head coach in Kent State volleyball history, Glen Conley emphasized recruiting players that can play multiple positions. Now in his third season, Conley looks to reap the benefits of the recruiting strategy with a mix of seasoned veterans and seven newcomers, many of whom can play multiple positions.
“We have much more depth than we have had in the past, and it is not even close,” said Conley. “We have four or five players who can play different positions [in this freshman class].
“We would like to be able to attack all across the net and when you do that, you cannot worry about switching back and fourth on blocking. After you make an offensive play, you just stay and block where you are. When people are trained to play multiple positions, it gives you a tremendous advantage.”
By returning four starters and an additional three letterwinners, the Flashes have a good chance of continuing the early season success that they saw last season.
All four positions - outside hitter, middle blocker, setter, and libero - will have at least one letterwinner returning for the 2009 season. With the amount of veterans on the team, the depth of the squad will be called on throughout the season, including during the competitive MAC lineup that the Flashes will face.
STARTERS RETURNING
Kent State returns four starters from the 2008 team, including junior libero Kristen Barr (Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green).
“Kristen played defensive specialist and libero for us last year. She is also someone who we look to for solid leadership on the court this year. I think she will be competing for the libero spot. We don’t know exactly what position she will be playing,” said Conley.
Also returning is junior outside hitter Lauren Jones (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood).
“Lauren started at the left side last year and will either being playing the left side this year as the main ball handler or will be playing the libero,” said Conley.
Finally, the Golden Flashes return senior setters Jenny Keck (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) and Katie Veatch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon).
“Jen has worked real hard this spring and she is one of the best blockers on our team as it is. I think she is going to excel this year at the setting position. She knows the team, knows the system and knows the offense really well,” added Conley.
Veatch may have a different role her final season, according to coach Conley. “Katie set for us the last two years but this year she will be playing libero or defensive specialist. We are looking to try to create a position where she is the out-of-system setter.”
LETTERWINNERS RETURNING
Along with the four starters listed above, two more letterwinners will be returning for the 2009 season. They include sophomore outside hitter Maigan Larsen (Lancaster, Wis./Lancaster) and junior middle blocker Celia Sabo (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Marian).
“Maigan Larsen has improved tremendously in only one year,” said Conley. “She could be a starter right now, but we have some good left sides at this point and time.
“She brings a lot of terminating power and a lot of fire to the team. I view her as a future captain and a future leader.”
“Another returner is Celia Sabo. She started in the middle for us last year and she will be doing that again. Celia improved quite a bit and we are looking forward to seeing what she will be able to do this year,” said Conley.
OUTSIDE HITTERS
With the graduation of outside hitter Ashley Feutz, the Flashes have big shoes to fill during the 2009 season. Feutz moved into the KSU record books during the 2008 season in seven individual career categories: attack attempts (5th; 3,289), kills (4th; 1,286), kills per game (5th; 3.00), hitting percentage (8th; .247), total blocks (6th; 289), block assists (5th; 256) and blocks per game (8th; 0.75).
Filling those shoes will be veterans Brianne Wille (Metamora, Ill./Illinois Central College/Metamora Township), Jones, and Larsen. Wille tallied five or more kills in seven matches throughout the season, with a season high of nine against Cleveland State (Nov. 29).
Jones will be a prominent front row player for the Flashes this season coming off of a career best 2008 season. She led the team in kills (335), service aces (44) and was second on the team in digs (277) and serve receptions (23). She had a season-best 23 kills in the KSU victory over Florida Atlantic (Sept. 13).
Larsen will be coming off her freshman season and will likely be seeing more playing time with the Flashes’ offense. She will look to top her season best .455 hitting percentage that she notched against Toledo (10/18).
New to the KSU outside hitting lineup for the 2009 season will be freshman Jessica Ronyak (Burton, Ohio/Berkshire) and senior transfer Arjola Prenga (Tirana, Albania), both of whom are looking to become an integral part of the KSU offense.
Coach Conley expects Ronyak to be able to compete for a staring spot immediately.
“Jess is very powerful, has a tremendous arm and gets off the ground very quickly. There is not a whole lot of hesitation. She does not need to gather herself; she can just pop up off the ground, which gives her a great advantage.
“We’re going to work on improving her ball handling and see what she can do.”
While the Golden Flashes will have Prenga for only a season, the coaching staff looks for big contributions from the 5-9 OH from Albania.
“Arjola has great ball control and she has great terminating power. She can kill the ball,” said Conley.
MIDDLE BLOCKERS
The most vacancies on the KSU team were in the middle blocker position with the departure of Tamy Leipelt, Krista Groce and Lindsay Daniels. Together they accounted for 286 kills and 97 blocks through the 2008 season.
Returning for the Flashes in the middle blocker position will be Sabo. She had a career best 73 kills during the 2008 season, and was also ranked third on the team with 51 total blocks.
Completing the KSU offense for the 2009 season will be junior transfer Liva Brivule (Riga, Latvia/Latvijas Universitate) and freshmen Kristen Farris (Galena, Ohio/Olentangy), Kathy Krupa (Burbank, Ill./Reavis) and Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights).
“Liva is a transfer student from Latvia and will give us a lot of size and terminating power in the middle. She is going to create problems for the opposition. There is a possibility she will move to the right side but right now we are looking at her in the middle,” said Conley.
According to Conley, Farris is another freshman who could play multiple positions.
“Kristen is listed in the middle, but she may end up being a left side. She jumps incredibly well. She can set up a great block and when she gets her arm in position to get her arm back and hit, she has as much power as anyone on the team. She is someone we look at as someone who will continue to develop.”
Krupa is another talented freshman that will challenge for immediate playing time.
“I have not seen too many people with her ability to block in JO or high school volleyball,” said Conley. “We are going to continue to work on her arm swing so she can become a productive offensive player. As a middle blocker, she could step in and play today; she is that great of a blocker. I think Kathy can step up and give us solid playing time.”
Finally, Conley feels Paskert is a tremendous player for her ability to play every position on the court.
“We really don’t know where we are going to play Meredith. We have her slotted in the middle because that is what she played in club and in high school, but she can play left side and right side.
“Meredith is a tremendous player and a real stabilizer on the court,” said Conley
SETTERS
Leaving the setting rotation will be Lauren Simon, who saw action in 70 games last season. Simon tallied 408 assists on the season (5.83 per game) and 62 kills.
Running the offense for the Flashes again will be Veatch and Keck, who are both very familiar with the KSU system. Veatch joined the KSU record books last season in individual career assists (4th; 2,356) and assists per game (5th; 8.79). Keck also made the individual career assists per game record books after last season with 6.31 per game (9th). She will be involved more directly as a setter while Veatch may see time as an “out-of-position center,” according to coach Conley.
Joining the KSU setters will be freshman Zuzana Markova (Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Cesky Krumlov). “Zuzana may have the most upside of any player we have. She is a setter and can also hit. She has all the skills of volleyball and the game seems to come pretty easy to her. She has tremendous ball handling skills. She passes, she sets, she can attack and block and she has a good size at 5-11. She has a tremendous future here,” added Conley.
LIBERO
Parting with the KSU volleyball program were seniors Vaiva Laniauskas and Sarah Kaczuk. Both were moved to defensive specialists before the 2008 season to help Barr. Laniauskas and Kaczuk recorded 160 and 68 digs respectively throughout last season.
Now a junior, Barr returns for the Flashes after a career-best season with 53 assists, 17 service aces and 344 digs. The 344 digs was also a team high for the season.
SCHEDULE
The Flashes look to continue the success in early-season tournaments that they saw during the 2008 season by starting off the 2009 campaign at the IPFW Invitational with matches against Butler, Drake, Eastern Illinois and IPFW. They will also compete in George Mason’s Patriot Invitational, Wright State’s Raider Challenge and their own Kent State/Mizuno Open.
“It is a good schedule and I am happy with it,” said coach Conley. “I am happy with our home tournament and I think we have three good teams coming in for that. It is not too demanding for us travel-wise. Our farthest trip will be George Mason, which is only about five hours away. I don’t expect us to be too fatigued with the early part of the schedule.”
Mid-American Conference play will begin at Ohio and continue through November, ending at Miami University. Overall the Flashes will play 19 road or neutral site matches and 11 home contests.
“Our conference schedule is what it is, very tough. We had three teams from the MAC in the NCAA tournament and one made the sweet 16 and wasn’t even the conference champs in Western Michigan. I think it is a great schedule.
“We are really looking forward to the season. We are going to have to play at a really high level to be successful,” added Conley.
Story Courtesy of Kent State Media Relations
