No place like home

Note: The Kent State volleyball team competed in a tournament at Towson University this past weekend, providing senior outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola with an opportunity to play near her hometown of Ellicott City, Md.

As the long 6-hour drive down Towson began, I started to play ridiculously cliché songs on my iPod like, ‘Coming Home’ by Diddy, while I contemplated in my head if this is how LeBron felt returning to play in Cleveland (obviously not, but I still like to think me and him have a connection now).

It was hard for me to contain my excitement and contain the huge smile on my face to a gentle smirk, so I decided to fall asleep. We arrived at a hotel in Timonium, just 25 minutes away from my house, I couldn’t wait for the next day to play and see all of my family and friends.

Throughout the three games over the weekend, I would look up in the stands to see so many familiar faces. My parents, older brother and sister, high school volleyball coach, my uncle, parents of old teammates I played club with, random high school classmates, all came up to watch us play. It was unfortunate that our games ended in a loss, but you can’t stay mad for long when you walk out of the locker room and your brother is standing there with a half-deflated smiley face balloon connected to boxes of edible arrangements.

After all the matches were over, I got the rare opportunity, playing so close to home, to bring the team to the my house to eat dinner. After a short drive down to Ellicott City, I stepped out of the bus with an image of my father standing outside the front door, with the biggest smile I had ever seen, clapping, welcoming us home. We all walked through the house while some of my teammates stopped to stare at random baby pictures and old family photos, finally ending the tour in the backyard where we decided to play a game of ‘add on.’ The game ended pretty suddenly as Heather almost (accidentally) sat on a baby bunny in the heat of the game.

Luckily, the food arrived shortly after as silence fell across the backyard are we all scarfed down half chickens, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cinnamon apples, cookies, brownies, until we couldn’t eat anymore. Soon after, it was time to head back to Kent. A few hugs and goodbyes later and we were off.

One more new lineup and another challenge with YSU here tonight

By Don Gromala

Head Coach

One of the the things we faced this past weekend at West Virginia that we had yet to see this season was a fast offense. West Virginia and Montana played a very fast set tempo to the pins. That stressed us out a bit. 

Offensively, West Virginia is the best team we have faced this year because of their system and the fact that their setter was very smart.

We grinded out some wins, though. St. Francis was close, and we battled back to win the last three pretty easy. We were down 2-1 to Montana, too, so it’s good to see we have that comeback in us.

Tonight is going to be tough. Youngstown State poses some similar stresses we’ve seen with double-quick offense and fast tempo. They have had a new staff come in and they have become a much better team over the last couple of years. They have some good wins beating programs like Virginia and Illinois-Chicago. 

Youngstown State poses a challenge because of the style of offense they run, so if we are serving too easy or losing too many points on our serve, it will be tough for us to defend them. 

It’s a Tuesday night so we should have our students here. Youngstown State will bring some fans, too, so it should be a good crowd.

We will have a different lineup again tonight. That will be our eighth different lineup. Last year we had two-to-four different lineups where this year we could have eight-to-10. Players are getting opportunities, and that’s good. 

Tonight is also a an opportunity for returning players to make up for last year when we struggled at Youngstown State. We will come out to prove we are a better team and to keep our home streak alive. 

This weekend we will go to Towson. That will be very similar to tonight where we will face some teams that have jumped out to a good start. Towson has only lost a couple of times. St. John’s has been to the Hawaii tournament, where they played some good teams and beat New Mexico, which is a very good program. 

Last week was tough with the scheduling of two matches on a Friday that were four hours apart. We do the same thing this weekend, and we play tonight. It’s a good opportunity to prepare for what we would see in the Mid-American Conference tournament when we could play four days in a row. 

We are also talking a lot about maintaining our focus. In our first segment of non-conference play we have started out strong. How are we going to finish this month with these last four matches? It’s a lot about mental focus and doing all of the little things right so that we don’t have to go back and retrain the basics before the MAC season starts up.

Improvements on offense during home tourney win and a look ahead to West Virginia

By Don Gromala

Head Coach

 

We had a great weekend with the wins over Morehead State, New Hampshire and Evansville. The level of competition was really close where we could very easily have gone 0-3 or 3-0 like last weekend, and we played very steady volleyball overall.  But right now we are not looking as much at the wins and losses. 

 

We thought we would play well offensively last weekend with the lineups we played. That happened through execution and players taking care of their business and doing their jobs. We still have some offensive areas to adjust, though. 

 

I thought we did a better job of defending the middle and right-side attacks, but we haven’t seen a strong outside presence from a team yet. Physically, West Virginia is going to pose some new problems for us this weekend that we have not seen so far this season. We may still try one more different lineup this weekend at West Virginia that utilizes a 6-2 offense.

 

We didn’t tinker as much with the lineups as we did the first weekend but we still gave players opportunities to get in. We have talked a lot about the depth we have and how that means everyone has to be ready. You may get your chance and it may come in the fifth set. You have to be ready to produce when that chance comes, just like Lauren Engleman did the first weekend vs Charleston.

 

The lineups we try at West Virginia may give more people an opportunity to play, but hopefully girls understand we are not trying to make everyone happy with playing time. It’s about what is going to make us better in a month and a half since we are getting close to the start of that Mid-American Conference season. 

 

In addition to getting better match by match this past weekend, I was very happy with the decision making of our hitters. We had a well-balanced offense, and we can still get better as all of our setters locate the ball a little more consistently for those hitters.

 

Serving is a little bit of a conundrum for us right now. We are making too many serving errors. You can have mistakes serving as long as you are scoring points off of them, but we are not scoring enough. We serve reasonably tough as a team and I think we serve smart, but we also have a strong defense which means we don’t have to score off of our serves. We just have to keep it in play and let our defense and counter attack do the rest.   We have options with our servers, and that is something nice even for something as simple as serving. With our middles, we can have either Bridget Wilhelm or Liz Reikow serve, and they are both tough. They have very different serves that pose different problems for passers. The same goes with Sarah Mills and Kelly Hutchison, who have different types of serves that can create different opportunities for us defensively.

 

We face West Virginia at noon on Friday, Saint Francis at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and then Montana at 2 p.m. on Saturday. After that we host Youngstown State Tuesday, Sep. 16, then go to the Tiger Invitational at Towson University next weekend to take on Towson, St. John’s and North Dakota.

 

After that, it’s right into the Mid-American Conference season at Ohio University on Thursday, Sep. 25. 

 

It’s hard to believe we only have two more weekends of non-conference. I’d love to try a few more things and look at a few more options before the start of the MAC season, but I feel like we are growing and we are building towards being an extremely competitive group. We have to make sure we don’t plateau after having a successful weekend though. The girls need to stay focused and keep pushing to make themselves better. 

 

Lessons from Charleston and a look at the Hampton Inn Golden Flashes Volleyball Classic

By Don Gromala

Head Coach

There is a lot going on with our team right now getting some stress from outside influences. It is life-stuff, and that can be good in that the player are learning that they have each other’s back and they are seeing that they are all here for each other. That is good because quite a bit can happen during the course of a season.

I think we are being helped by the balance between experienced players and newcomers. The older players have been through things the younger players haven’t, and the older players can help the younger players get through some things.

I think the retreat helped. That trip to Ohiopyle helped everyone get closer. The trip to College of Charleston was also a great thing. We had the opportunity to take a historical carriage ride through Charleston and with that we have talked a lot about appreciating where we have come from as a program. It was a good parallel between Kent State’s volleyball program and the city in terms of Charleston being burned down a couple of times and then rebuilt. It’s pretty cool that Charleston is still standing strong.

We have been working very hard on defense for the past few weeks, and this was a very good weekend for us defensively with holding our opponents to a very low hitting percentage. Defensively it is usually a little easier than offensively early on because people are getting used to playing with each other again and we’ve also been getting used to a new offensive system.

It was an interesting tournament in Charleston. It was what we were looking for with nothing too difficult and nothing too easy. The defense improved throughout the weekend. Mercer exploited a few weaknesses in our defense that we were able to work on and get better against Davidson and College of Charleston. We worked on that the first few days of practice this week, defending tips and roll shots. That’s kind of how Mercer beat us. It wasn’t aggressive stuff, which we should expect. If we are blocking well, teams are not going to be swinging aggressively on us because they don’t want to lose points against our block.

Offensively, we haven’t gotten into too much yet. We were so-so last weekend, but we had a shining moment in the fifth set against College of Charleston when we hit around .500, which is awesome. Hopefully our girls learned from playing smart offensively. Our hitters took risks when they should have, and our setters made some good decisions to get us one-on-one opportunities when we could get them.

With a freshman setting, it could take a month or so to really get firing. We are going to mix up our lineups again like we did this past weekend. We may start with an entirely different lineup this weekend in the Hampton Inn Golden Flashes Volleyball Classic because we know we have a lot of different options. We want to find out what really works best for this group. It’s not going to be based on wins and losses, but how the team plays together and what things we’ll need to compete in the Mid-American Conference. It’s a long preparation, which is going to be different for us. They have to be a little more patient this year as players with regard to playing time and what their role is on the team.

I’m enjoying mixing and matching things and seeing what the best fits are. We have a couple of different lineups, one that is good offensively and one defensively. Can we do two different lineups throughout the season? Probably not, but it would be fun to have that option because it is tough for opponents to scout. 

We’ll play Evansville at 1 p.m. on Friday, Morehead State at 7 p.m. on Friday and then New Hampshire at 6 p.m. on Saturday. It’s funny because this past weekend we wanted to play teams that bring some different things, which they did. Some teams ran a 6-2, some ran a 5-1 and did different offensive schemes focusing on different types of hitters. 

Evansville in game one will do some different things from what we saw this weekend. They run a faster offense, to their outside, to their right side, to their middle it is really fast. That will stress us out a little bit. We are a pretty physical team at the net. We are also athletic, but we haven’t seen that type of speed since last year when we played Southern Illinois. 

It looks like Morehead State is similar to us where we have an option for a lineup that has two middles in a three-hitter rotation so that you can run two quick sets at a time.

Evansville is similar to us in that they are trying to build their program up and they have a chip on their shoulder trying to prove some things. Morehead and New Hampshire have been to the tournament. They have been in big games. So when the games are close, they are not going to fall back into a shell. We showed a lot of that same resolve last week, and now hopefully we can do that again in front of our home crowd.

Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola talks about preseason, outlook for senior season

By Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola
Senior, Outside Hitter

Preseason has been going pretty well. I feel like there is a very good dynamic on the team. Everyone has been working hard, and stepping up their game. There has been a lot of positive competition throughout preseason. Because the starting lineup is still yet to be decided, everyone is bringing their ‘A’ game to practice each day.

All the positive competition gets me really excited for the season. Being my last season, along with the four other seniors, we all have a drive to compete and be the best. Coming back after getting our first taste at the MAC Tournament since we have been in Kent, has us hungry for more.

These couple preseason matches to start the year, although they don’t count towards our MAC record, will be more than beneficial to us as a team. It will be great to finally play against some people other than ourselves, so we can put all of our competitive energy towards a real game. It will be fun to see where the season goes, and for us to showcase all the hard work we do in practice.

Team Reatreat, Day 3

By Payton Moore
Sophomore
Setter

It is the third day and of our retreat and I am eating a breakfast that is not burnt or tarnished in any way. 

Today will be good, I say to myself, and I am right. 

The team gathers in the living room for a quick meeting discussing team rules and shortly after describing our head pieces or accessories of some sort that remind us of our childhood or a fond memory. Alexis whips out a pair of dog-ears and Dalmatian-printed sunglasses with a hanging snout to tell us how she thought she was a dog as a kid, Brittney shows off her sparkly headband in remembrance of earlier volleyball tournaments, and Don describes to us his “Mala” hat, throwing it back to when he once wanted to start a surf-inspired clothing line using the last four letters of his last name.

Once finished, we are packed into minivans and on the road to a local landmark, Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Water” house. The famous house sits on top of a waterfall and is an incredible sight for all of us. We took turns walking around the house and then began our journey back home where we piled out of the vans groggily but not forgetting the bonds and connections established in just a few short days.

Although our grand plans would have been made easier with a little less rain or burnt eggs, it only symbolizes our enduring perseverance for making the best out of a not-so great situation. The team pushed through fiercely cold rafting, 5-foot tall loft ceilings, and tough one-on-one talks. Everything about the last few days solidified our new goals for the 2014 season. Against the odds, we didn’t give up – we made success out of mild failures and had a hell of a time doing it.

Riding high on the rapids on Day 2 of the retreat – a challenge with some symbolism for Kent State Volleyball

By Payton Moore

Sophomore setter

Sitting next to Sarah, we simultaneously make a disgusted face as a cloud of smoke encircles the kitchen we sit in. We have managed to burn eggs to a brown and black marbled crisp. It is only the start of the long day we have ahead of us.

Our team woke up for a light jog that turned into a sprint against the elements as the rain became heavier. Kim instructed us to sit in the grass and start with a circuit of ab workouts that left most of us soaked and confused if it was from sweat or the rain. We finished up our crispy breakfast and prepared ourselves for the next big adventure on our schedules – our five-hour expedition whitewater rafting down the Ohiopyle River.

Climbing int cars with anxious looks on our faces, I couldn’t help but become utterly terrified of what lay in front of me. I’m not the fastest swimmer, and like my mom, water has always made me scared. Not to mention it was 60 out and pouring rain.

Into the rafts we went despite the downpour, and as I called out to the others, “20 bucks says I’ll be the first one in the river,” I clutched on to dear life to my paddle and hurriedly got the hang of directing the boat and spotting out racks to Kaylee, our captain.

Kim referred to our boat as most improved for obvious reasons – we nearly got stuck on every single rock on the first rapids.

It took two guides yanking us this way and that to continue the journey, and finally we were out … But not for long.

It only took one more rushing rapids to have me flying off, miserable and soaked, clutching onto the raft with dear life. I had to quickly collect my bearings and get back into the rhythm we set before I flew off.

We continued down the river with Kaylee flying off next, sprawling onto a rock and gaining her composure quickly to continue directing us. For us, that was the hardest part – having our captains or key lead figures not able to see imminent danger and stepping in calmly to direct others.

The rafting adventure left us soaked, a little scraped up and more sore than we thought possible. But despite the pouring rain and cold wind, later in a meeting, every single one of us declared how much fun we had against all of the odds. We discovered ways to look past the twists and turns the river threw at us and continue with “swag”, a happy smile and physical superiority. 

Although we agreed we’d have enjoyed it a smidgen more with 80 degree weather and blasting sunshine, the rain only added to the adventure, making things more slippery and unstable, like the fine line we balance whenever we play matches.

The river symbolized more than just a crazy adventure … It was everything we needed to know and master before Kent State Volleyball makes its official return to domination.

For more pictures from our team-bonding retreat, visit our Facebook page by CLICKING HERE.