Listen HereBy: Collin Frazier
Email: frazierc@findlay.edu
Twitter: @Collin_53
Women’s Volleyball at Findlay has had quite an impressive run these last five seasons. In the last 5 seasons, the UF Women’s Volleyball team have had at least 20 wins. Last season also had 20+ wins as well, including a trip to the G-MAC championship. Sadly, their season abruptly came to an end, when they lost to Hillsdale in the G-MAC championship, 3-0. Coach Wick Colchagoff was disappointed in their loss, but he is ready for the 2019 season to get underway.
Colchagoff is expecting this year to go well and his two goals are very simple. He wants to win 20+ matches this year and avenge their loss to Hillsdale, which is on October 4th. But that won’t be without losing some key players and learning to fill the voids they left behind, including the losses of Hailee Olson and Kara Scherger.
“We [the team] graduated 5 starters off of last year’s squad to graduation. In addition to Hailee and Kara we lost Amanda Winner, Ally Duncan and Molly Hammersmith,” said Colchagoff.
To help combat the loss of so many key players, Colchagoff tried some new things in the spring and his hopeful it will turn into success.
“In the spring season, we moved Shelby Kin, All-American, and Madison Moore, All-GMAC, to new positions. With all these changes we are going to have a new look this year and count on Shelby and Madison to provide a lot of our offense especially early in the season,” Colchagoff continued.
While they will certainly miss those 5 seniors, Colchagoff believes that this group of seniors are able to step up and lead the team to victory. Along with Kin, Colchagoff believes that seniors Jenna Delarber, Natalie Regula, and McKenzie Gunner will help they lead the way for this season as well. Colchagoff also stated that the new group of players coming in will also be able to make an impact on the court, noting how Olivia Morrison and Rylie Pattison will play “a more important role on the team this year.”
Even with the experience obtained by the seniors and other players, one avoidable aspect of volleyball is the risk for injury. When asked how he plans to avoid injuries during practice, Colchagoff said, “We use Vert wearable devices to measure the amount of jumps and the stress placed on the body during practices. This helps us modify practice to try to ensure that we do not overload athletes.”
Colchagoff and the rest of the team will begin their 2019 season on September 6th against Augustana.
