Practice Hard, Play Harder
Women Want to be a Team that Wins Because of its Work Ethic.
Nate Taylor: Muleskinner
Issue date: 8/18/08 Section: Sports
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Williams doesn't care about being picked to finish the conference fourth this season. She doesn't care about what happened last year. She is more concerned about letting everybody know what this year's volleyball team will do.
So as Williams steps to the podium with everybody in the conference listening, her message is this: We will out-work you.
"We want to be the hardest working team," Williams said. "I mean the hardest working team in the country on and off the court."
That is exactly what coach Peggy Martin wants to hear from her one of her leaders. Martin expects her team to play harder than it has in the past. That's because the Jennies will have a less experienced squad that in year's past.
This 2008 team plans to use its hard work to compensate losing four starters and five seniors from a 2007 team that went 31-7 and finished as the No. 10 team in the nation.
With 13 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, the Jennies will rely on the leadership of Williams, who was an All-MIAA middle hitter in 2007. Martin also expects leadership from junior setter Caitlin Pankratz and senior outside hitters Brooke Butler and Carrie Peterson.
"The four upper classmen will provide us with their work ethic." Martin said. "I think they understand that if we don't perform as a team, then we're not going to go anywhere."
Martin has gone on to say that the team's lineup will change over the course of the season with so many new players. Right now, she says every player is battling for a starting spot.
It's a challenge to her team that personifies hard work in practice.
"I think these practices have been the hardest workouts in my career," Williams said. "I really just want to have our best year, and be the example of working the hardest."
Hopefully for the Jennies, working the hardest pays off.
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