The 2012 season brought many changes to the Morrisville State College women’s volleyball program: a new staff, new court and several new faces. As they make final preparations for the 2013 season campaign, the Mustangs have their eyes set on one common goal – making the conference tournament for the first time since the 2009 season.
Getting there won’t be easy though as the Mustangs still have a long road ahead, but second year head coach Fred Wallace believes that their preparation in the offseason, as well as preseason commitment has them going in the right direction.
“I truly believe we took some giant steps in several areas, and are ready to move on and up within the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC),” Wallace said.
“I want us to be competitive in all of our matches,” he said. “In order to achieve this, we must be the hardest working team on the court, understand our strengths and weaknesses, and work at making those stronger and less apparent.”
Wallace returns seven to the roster this season, including two-time all-conference selection Tiffany Jones-Maxwell (Hamilton, N.Y.), and welcome five new faces to the program, who have already made an excellent contribution to the volleyball family.
“The freshmen class came in with an excellent attitude and work ethic that fits in with what our program is working to achieve,” Wallace said.
A challenging non-conference schedule has the Mustangs hitting the court early against well-established programs from D’Youville, Susquehanna, Haverford and Dickinson, in preparation for what lies ahead in a competitive conference slate.
“Right now the NEAC seems to belong to Gallaudet with four or five teams chasing them down,” Wallace commented. “SUNYIT, Keuka, Lancaster Bible and Penn State Berks all have solid programs, but I believe that on any day, we are going to be able to compete with just about anyone.”
For now, though, they’re taking it one day at a time and putting in the hard work, dedication and unrelenting desire that it’s going to take to be successful.
Their first test of 2013 will come on Saturday, as they travel to Buffalo for the NEAC –
Alleghany Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Challenge, to face D’Youville College and Hilbert.
A full volleyball schedule can be found on the college’s athletic web site at http://athletics.morrisville.edu.