Sunday, November 23: After Championship Game Interviews:
AUDIO: Caiti O'Connell Interview After NSU Wins 2014 SLC Tournament
NSU Seniors Post-Match:
AUDIO: Mackenzie Neely
AUDIO: Stacey DiFrancesco
AUDIO: Emily Johnson
AUDIO: Vanessa Coleman
VIDEO: Hugh Hernesman (Guests: Emma & Austin) Interview After NSU Wins 2014 SLC Tournament
Saturday, November 22 Links:
AUDIO: Mackenzie Neely Interview After NSU's 4-set Win in the 2nd Round of the SLC Tourney
AUDIO: NSU's Stacey DiFrancesco Talks About Returning to the SLC Tourney Final
AUDIO: David McFatrich Comments on UCA's Sweep of TAMUCC to Reach Tourney Final
VIDEO: Amy South of UCA Comments on the Sugar Bears Win Over TAMUCC
VIDEO: Hugh Hernesman & Glynna Johnson Discuss the Demons' Defense
Friday, November 21 Links:
AUDIO: Interview with Southeastern La. Head Coach Jim Smoot
AUDIO: Interview with 2nd Team All SLC Libero Morgan Todd of SLU
AUDIO: Post Match Comments By Evie Singleton after UCA beats SLU 3-1 in 1st Round
AUDIO: Brianna Brink and Ashley Phelps discuss TAMUCC's 5-set win vs. HBU
AUDIO: Debbie Humphreys Post Match Comments After SFA Sweeps Nicholls
VIDEO: David McFatrich of UCA Discusses the Sugar Bears 4-set Win over SLU
VIDEO: Tony Graystone On TAMUCC's Five-Set Win Over HBU
VIDEO: Demons' Co-Head Coach Hugh Hernesman on NSU's Sweep of SHSU
Showing posts with label Hugh Hernesman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hugh Hernesman. Show all posts
Friday, November 21, 2014
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Interview with NSU Libero Keelie Arnesman & Co-Head Coach Hugh Hernesman
The several hundred people who got a chance to witness yesterday's SFA/Northwestern State match really got a treat. Now, don't get me wrong. I wish SFA had been able to extend the level of play shown in the first set and a half throughout the entire match and pull out a big win on the final day of the regular season. In the end, the balance of NSU that I have talked with so many people about shone through and the Demons were able to secure a 3-1 victory.
Many times I've commented to other fans, coaches, our players and anyone else that will listen that I enjoy back row defense as much as any other part of the game. Well, yesterday might very well have been one of the best combined efforts by two back rows I have ever seen. The 5th Annual SFAVolleyBlog.net all-SLC teams are still in construction. They will (as always) be released here before the conference makes official All-SLC announcements later this week. I'll have say this, though.. liberos Keelie Arneson and OJ Olson put on an absolute clinic...just a lock down clinic... on digging up balls. You'd be hard pressed not to think we were watching the two best liberos in the conference. We're not talking about several dozen nice, right to target digs either... there were some balls absolutely blistered by hitters on both sides that the back rows dug up with perfection.
On the Northwestern State side, Arneson, Stacey DiFrancesco, Ashley Elrod and Emily Johnson all played wonderful defense. For us, Olson and Janet Hill were absolute digging machines. It was so awesome to see senior Amanda Rister put up huge dig numbers as well in her farewell match at Shelton Gym.
242.
242 digs total in four sets! Olson set the SFA record for most digs EVER by a Ladyjack in a four set match. Now, that is saying something considering that the All-American Stephanie Figgers lines our record book for most of the back row statistics. Meanwhile, Arneson eclipsed her own record for the second time in becoming (again) NSU's all-time single season dig leader. When it was all said and done, Olson had 43 digs and Arneson 42 digs in the four set defensive war.
On Friday, before NSU practiced in Shelton Gym, I got a chance to sit down and have quite an extensive talk with Arneson and Co-Head Coach Hugh Hernesman. We cover a lot of ground in the interview you'll hear at the link below, so settle in and have a listen to both player and coach discuss the fantastic year that the Demons have had to this point.
Finally, I am working on a little surprise for my coverage of the Southland Conference tournament which starts this Friday. You'll have to wait for an announcement later in the week. As always, I am working on ways to cover SFA volleyball with more and more depth. SFA will be looking to pull an upset against #1 seed Central Arkansas. Northwestern State (#2) draws McNeese in their first round match up.
I'll be there all weekend covering every match and trying to talk with as many players and coaches as I can among all the excitement. The Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi is one of facilities in the Southland I haven't been to before, so I am anxious to get to the island and see how this weekend goes.
Look for the next article to be my All-Conference picks post (late Monday or early Tuesday) and then a tournament preview article in the middle of the week. I'll get to Corpus Christi quite late on Thursday night, but I'll be fired up and ready to go with coverage Friday morning. SFA plays at 4:00 PM.
Click Here to listen to the interview with Keelie Arneson and Hugh Hernesman
Many times I've commented to other fans, coaches, our players and anyone else that will listen that I enjoy back row defense as much as any other part of the game. Well, yesterday might very well have been one of the best combined efforts by two back rows I have ever seen. The 5th Annual SFAVolleyBlog.net all-SLC teams are still in construction. They will (as always) be released here before the conference makes official All-SLC announcements later this week. I'll have say this, though.. liberos Keelie Arneson and OJ Olson put on an absolute clinic...just a lock down clinic... on digging up balls. You'd be hard pressed not to think we were watching the two best liberos in the conference. We're not talking about several dozen nice, right to target digs either... there were some balls absolutely blistered by hitters on both sides that the back rows dug up with perfection.
On the Northwestern State side, Arneson, Stacey DiFrancesco, Ashley Elrod and Emily Johnson all played wonderful defense. For us, Olson and Janet Hill were absolute digging machines. It was so awesome to see senior Amanda Rister put up huge dig numbers as well in her farewell match at Shelton Gym.
242.
242 digs total in four sets! Olson set the SFA record for most digs EVER by a Ladyjack in a four set match. Now, that is saying something considering that the All-American Stephanie Figgers lines our record book for most of the back row statistics. Meanwhile, Arneson eclipsed her own record for the second time in becoming (again) NSU's all-time single season dig leader. When it was all said and done, Olson had 43 digs and Arneson 42 digs in the four set defensive war.
On Friday, before NSU practiced in Shelton Gym, I got a chance to sit down and have quite an extensive talk with Arneson and Co-Head Coach Hugh Hernesman. We cover a lot of ground in the interview you'll hear at the link below, so settle in and have a listen to both player and coach discuss the fantastic year that the Demons have had to this point.
Finally, I am working on a little surprise for my coverage of the Southland Conference tournament which starts this Friday. You'll have to wait for an announcement later in the week. As always, I am working on ways to cover SFA volleyball with more and more depth. SFA will be looking to pull an upset against #1 seed Central Arkansas. Northwestern State (#2) draws McNeese in their first round match up.
I'll be there all weekend covering every match and trying to talk with as many players and coaches as I can among all the excitement. The Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi is one of facilities in the Southland I haven't been to before, so I am anxious to get to the island and see how this weekend goes.
Look for the next article to be my All-Conference picks post (late Monday or early Tuesday) and then a tournament preview article in the middle of the week. I'll get to Corpus Christi quite late on Thursday night, but I'll be fired up and ready to go with coverage Friday morning. SFA plays at 4:00 PM.
Click Here to listen to the interview with Keelie Arneson and Hugh Hernesman
Monday, September 17, 2012
Northwestern State Interviews - Preview of Sam Houston
During the past weekend at the Chilly Fillmore SFA Volleyball Invitational, I got a chance to sit down with Northwestern State Co-Head Coach Hugh Hernesman and Demon Outside Hitter Stacey DiFrancesco. I first began occasionally exchanging brief emails with coach Hernesman before the conference tournament last year and then had a chance to formally meet and talk with him in Conway during the SLC Tournament. I am not purposely leaving chats with Stephanie Hernesman off my "to do" list, but anyone who has seen the husband and wife team in action at matches knows that their two children often travel with them and are wonderfully integrated into most of what the team does. That generally leaves only one of them "free" during down times and to this point, Hugh has been the one that has been available at times when I've had the mic. As the season goes on, I'll make it a point to get Stephanie's points of view and do a better job of all around coverage of this coaching duo.
During the last year, folks at Northwestern State have read these pages on fair occasion. But, I won't lie - more than likely their readership was to mock my dismissal of their 2011 squad early last year. I learned my lesson and now a year later, NSU is primed for a step forward in conference play. I would like to thank the NSU parents I talked to last weekend for their support and for not completely writing me off based on last years' early posts.
Jessica Hays at UCA is probably my pick for our conference's top outside hitter, but Stacey DiFrancesco is certainly in the conversation. She is frustratingly good. It just doesn't "look" like she is going to dominate you, but leaf through the box scores and you'll see that she is capable of 20 kills against anybody at any time. Like many of the best outside hitters in the SLC, she can get her kills from anywhere on the court. Against SFA I marvelled at the half dozen or so kills she got from back row hitting 20 feet off the net - just glancing balls off blockers arms from deep on the court. She's the kind of player that you just have to admire and I greatly appreciate both her time and Coach Hernesman's willingness to talk volleyball with me at many sporadic times during last weekend's tournament.
Apologies for the misspelling of Stacey's name in the title. Ugh.
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Tuesday night the Bearkats of Sam Houston will be in town. Don't let the losing record fool you. They've played (and lost) to Colorado, Texas State, Rice and Mississippi State. So, they've scheduled some schools from bigger conferences among their tournament slate. They ripped Oral Roberts last week, but then ran into a UCA squad that was more than likely seeking retribution for the loss at Corpus Christi. In previous posts, I've let it be known that SHSU is one of my picks for the conference final in November. Why? What should we expect out of Brenda Gray's club this time around?
For one thing: No fear. Sam Houston always plays scrappy. This is something that Debbie Humphreys continually says about Bearkat Volleyball.. bodies flying all over the place. This is a very veteran centered team. They've been around the block plenty of times and they should exhibit the maturity and poise that you'd expect from an experienced squad. The Depth Chart in the right sidebar will tell you that the Bearkats' starters are all upperclassmen with the exception of the replacement for last year's standout Carli Kolbe. Who would that be? Well, her name is Devaney Wells-Gibson and she's been playing pretty darn good. How does hitting .218 with 177 kills and 3.69 kills per set sound? Sounds pretty solid to me. Guess what? Those 177 kills lead the entire conference and the 3.69 k/s number is third best.
I am telling you right now.. Sam Houston is good. They lost a dynamic player, replaced her with a sophomore who is playing lights out and got a year more experience out of every one of their other starters. Kim Black is one of the best middle blockers in the Southland, and OH Kendall Cleveland is one of my favorite players not wearing an SFA uniform. Cleveland is one of my dark horse picks for first team All-SLC. So far, her hitting percentage is pedestrian, but she'll get her fair share of kills. Tayler Gray is a firecracker to say the least and Haley Neisler is a nice complementary player to have as a second middle blocker. Then there is Kaylee Hawkins who can beat you with offense or defense.. one of the true "utility" players that the conference has to offer.
I don't judge the team to be overly deep, so if something were to happen to one of the key starters, the ship might sink, but on paper, I like Sam Houston to finish in the Top 3 in the conference and they provide a big test for an SFA squad on a huge high.
Sam Houston has the advantage on the left side and we have the advantage on the back row. But the battle between Black/Neisler and Burns/Leslie should be war. Plus, the two setters are very different in terms of demeanor, so it will be interesting to see how each leads their squad as the match moves along.
If we fall asleep even for one set, this match could be trouble. Otherwise, I am expecting to be in the gym for a while on Tuesday night. We are going to have to get solid contributions from both Randall and Bates to win in my opinion as well as win the MB battle.
I'll be honest... can SFA win? Sure. If they play like they did in the tournament last weekend, then we will hang right there and be in a position to win. But, on paper? Slight edge to Sam Houston State.
During the last year, folks at Northwestern State have read these pages on fair occasion. But, I won't lie - more than likely their readership was to mock my dismissal of their 2011 squad early last year. I learned my lesson and now a year later, NSU is primed for a step forward in conference play. I would like to thank the NSU parents I talked to last weekend for their support and for not completely writing me off based on last years' early posts.
Jessica Hays at UCA is probably my pick for our conference's top outside hitter, but Stacey DiFrancesco is certainly in the conversation. She is frustratingly good. It just doesn't "look" like she is going to dominate you, but leaf through the box scores and you'll see that she is capable of 20 kills against anybody at any time. Like many of the best outside hitters in the SLC, she can get her kills from anywhere on the court. Against SFA I marvelled at the half dozen or so kills she got from back row hitting 20 feet off the net - just glancing balls off blockers arms from deep on the court. She's the kind of player that you just have to admire and I greatly appreciate both her time and Coach Hernesman's willingness to talk volleyball with me at many sporadic times during last weekend's tournament.
Apologies for the misspelling of Stacey's name in the title. Ugh.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday night the Bearkats of Sam Houston will be in town. Don't let the losing record fool you. They've played (and lost) to Colorado, Texas State, Rice and Mississippi State. So, they've scheduled some schools from bigger conferences among their tournament slate. They ripped Oral Roberts last week, but then ran into a UCA squad that was more than likely seeking retribution for the loss at Corpus Christi. In previous posts, I've let it be known that SHSU is one of my picks for the conference final in November. Why? What should we expect out of Brenda Gray's club this time around?
For one thing: No fear. Sam Houston always plays scrappy. This is something that Debbie Humphreys continually says about Bearkat Volleyball.. bodies flying all over the place. This is a very veteran centered team. They've been around the block plenty of times and they should exhibit the maturity and poise that you'd expect from an experienced squad. The Depth Chart in the right sidebar will tell you that the Bearkats' starters are all upperclassmen with the exception of the replacement for last year's standout Carli Kolbe. Who would that be? Well, her name is Devaney Wells-Gibson and she's been playing pretty darn good. How does hitting .218 with 177 kills and 3.69 kills per set sound? Sounds pretty solid to me. Guess what? Those 177 kills lead the entire conference and the 3.69 k/s number is third best.
I am telling you right now.. Sam Houston is good. They lost a dynamic player, replaced her with a sophomore who is playing lights out and got a year more experience out of every one of their other starters. Kim Black is one of the best middle blockers in the Southland, and OH Kendall Cleveland is one of my favorite players not wearing an SFA uniform. Cleveland is one of my dark horse picks for first team All-SLC. So far, her hitting percentage is pedestrian, but she'll get her fair share of kills. Tayler Gray is a firecracker to say the least and Haley Neisler is a nice complementary player to have as a second middle blocker. Then there is Kaylee Hawkins who can beat you with offense or defense.. one of the true "utility" players that the conference has to offer.
I don't judge the team to be overly deep, so if something were to happen to one of the key starters, the ship might sink, but on paper, I like Sam Houston to finish in the Top 3 in the conference and they provide a big test for an SFA squad on a huge high.
Sam Houston has the advantage on the left side and we have the advantage on the back row. But the battle between Black/Neisler and Burns/Leslie should be war. Plus, the two setters are very different in terms of demeanor, so it will be interesting to see how each leads their squad as the match moves along.
If we fall asleep even for one set, this match could be trouble. Otherwise, I am expecting to be in the gym for a while on Tuesday night. We are going to have to get solid contributions from both Randall and Bates to win in my opinion as well as win the MB battle.
I'll be honest... can SFA win? Sure. If they play like they did in the tournament last weekend, then we will hang right there and be in a position to win. But, on paper? Slight edge to Sam Houston State.
Labels:
Hugh Hernesman,
Northwestern State,
SHSU,
Stacey DiFrancesco
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Dozen In Charge, Part 3
Today's final installment in this three part post will primarily serve as an introduction to the Southland Conference's new head volleyball coaches. As you might expect, the programs represented here are in somewhat of a rebuilding mode. McNeese might not be in quite the same place as these other schools, but still we aren't talking about clubs that have had a lot of recent success here.
The title of this series is actually a bit of a misnomer. At least, I think it is. Chris Laird resigned as the head coach at Nicholls on the 21st of June and the university announced that a search would begin shortly there after. But as of this writing, there has been no official announcement of a hiring on their webpage. The short-n-sweet announcement that Laird was bye-bye can be found here. That's as sterile as it gets. I'm sure there is a story here that I don't know (or maybe even care to know), but Nicholls' athletic website isn't exactly known for gushing with informative articles. Most folks know that the higher education facilities in Louisiana have faced all sorts of budget issues and suffice it to say that I'm not terribly surprised at either a) the lack of information available to the public or b) the fact that the position, if filled, isn't advertised.
So, that dispatches with Nicholls. We have McNeese, Northwestern State and Texas A&M -Corpus Christi remaining on our coaching tour.
In case you missed the first two articles (shame on you), you can click on the links below:
The Dozen In Charge, Part 1: The Legends
The Dozen In Charge, Part 2: The Veterans
Generation Next:
Tony Graystone, TAMUCC
Actually, Graystone is not a new coach in the SLC. His post at TAMUCC began last year and he's got one win in his home gym to show for it. The Islanders went 9-22 last year under Graystone and have got as far as any program in the conference to climb in order to gain some measure of consistent respect. To be more positive, TAMUCC did have some decent matches in SLC play last year. I specifically remember them stretching Sam to five sets in Huntsville and they tallied a sweep of Southeastern and Nicholls near the end of the conference slate. Those two wins were probably their highest quality though. I mean, wins against Alcorn State, UT-Pan American and Centenary don't do a lot for me.
Take a look at their 2010 roster. Notice anything? There is a whole lot of "FR" on that list. The only seniors on the team are "shoulder tear waitin' to happen" Ridley and personal fave Jessica Jennett. The offense last year consisted solely of Ridley and now Junior Jessica Korda. Those two accounted for a whopping 65% of the teams' total kills. By way of comparison, our top two in kills last year (Bay and MC both had 362 each) accounted for 40% of the balls finding the floor.
Graystone definitely has the quantity part in his 2010 recruits, but they may have some quality in there too. PrepVolleyball.com ranks their recruiting class among the top 100 in the nation. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with there being seven early signing period girls and two later addition freshman to bring the newcomer total to nine. Ridley, Jennett and Korda are the only non-freshman/sophomores on the team.
So, yes, Graystone is building. Graystone knows what it feels like to win a lot of games though. At one point while the head coach at DII West Texas A&M he won 100 of 106 matches. He reached 300 career victories faster than any other DII volleyball coach in history. I'll leave it to you to be impressed or ask if the competition at West Texas A&M was significantly better than tumbleweeds. I'm inclined to fall on the fence and reserve complete judgement until around 2013 when this signing class blooms.
Terry Gamble, McNeese
Gamble continues the theme of coaches successful at smaller programs. Not like McNeese and TAMUCC are "larger programs", but we are talking DI volleyball as oppose to the junior college ranks where Gamble is a semi-legend. Gamble accumulated 751 victories in the JuCo ranks - good enough to get him elected to the NJCAA (look it up) volleyball coaches Hall of Fame (who knew!). There are a few junior college national championships on his resume too.
I'll miss Dale Starr. Man, that guy was a trip. The veins in that guys head would bulge and he often looked like he was going to go over and bite the ear off one of his players. That guy could get after it. The really astute reader will know that I actually liked (like?) the McNeese team more than most. You can re-read this post here to see what I mean. Warning: that is the post that some think I wrote while stoned.
Yes, I think Nicole Bowden and Priscilla Massengale are good. They graduated their setter (Sarah Cartie, who was also good) so it remains to be seen if Gamble will get anything out of sophomore Becky Bekelja or maybe they'll turn to - you guessed it - junior college transfer Danielle Kraci.
One thing Gamble will have to address is tanking down the stretch. The Cowgirls were horrible at the end of the 2009 season losing their last six conference games to lose out on a tournament berth due to a crazy tiebreaker rule. They were 17-13 last year, but they started the year 13-2, so you do the math. They lost back-to-back five set matches on the last two days of the season at home against Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.
Gamble's been a head coach for 15 seasons prior to being hired as head wrangler of the Cowgirls. With all (due?) respect to Midland Lutheran College, St. Clair County Community College and Iowa Western Community College, I just don't think the past is overly indicative of the future here. Chanel Tyler and Sarah Cartie aren't on this team any more and I think that loss will mean more for 2010 than the coaching change. Like Graystone, Gamble will need time. In a few years, we'll see if McNeese has consistently found the postseason. That will be the measuring stick for Mr. Gamble in Lake Charles.
The Hernesman's, Northwestern State
I guess they figure it's going to take them both to turn this around. Northwestern State won three (as in "3")times last year and didn't win a set in 13 of their 24 matches. So who can blame former head coach Brittany Uffelman for leaving the bat cave (this is a must re-read by the way) and heading back to her roots in Wyoming. Actually, Uffelman did a decent job. Last year was the last in five that NWLA hadn't made the tournament. She is the only coach to ever lead a Demon team to the SLC Tourney.
I have to admit I chuckled a little bit when I read that Northwestern had hired a married set of co-coaches to run the squad. To be fair though, while an undergraduate I majored in a department that had hired several married couples and my home department right now at SFA recently hired a married couple. So, if it can work on the academic side, why not here? Right? [I guess?] [Maybe?] OK, whatever.. moving on...
So, thus begins the Hugh and Stepanie Hernesman era at Northwestern State. Hugh is a former head coach at Hardin Simmons (with again.. a fair amount of success like Graytone and Gamble) and they each have had stints as assistants at Ball State and Wisconsin-Whitewater. I just like typing that: Wisconsin-Whitewater. Wisconsin-Whitewater. It just sounds so wunderful and weefreshing. Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The Hernesman's will bring in three freshman and one transfer to add to a core of returning players from last year. This will be a baptism by fire for the coaching duo as there doesn't appear to be a very rosy outlook for 2010. We open conference play against them in Natchitoches. I admit I'm planning on going. Albeit more to watch the two-headed coaching approach and scout out the bats than be entertained by Demon volleyball.
Despite a fair amount of sarcasm in this post, the truth is that one of these programs - or maybe all - will receive a decent shot in the arm over their coaching changes. I think the transitions will be rough in a few cases and maybe some of these programs won't get the gain they are hoping for.
But who knows, you gotta start somewhere. I mean, these coaches are experiencing a lot of "new firsts". First recruiting classes at their new schools, first fall practices, first meetings... they are in a honeymoon period with their new schools and of course, we all know honeymoons are fun. But when the honeymoon period wears off, it will all boil down to wins and losses - just like it does for any coach of a college athletic team.
I sincerely look forward to meeting these folks. Additionally, I truly wish them success..and I hope it comes fast. We all can agree that if these coaches succeed, then the conference as a whole benefits. The better the teams in our conference get, the more respect the Southland gets in general. So, I wish them all the success they can garner. Except when SFA comes to town or their girls step foot on our floor. In those two cases, I wish all you new coaches a pleasant nightmare.
The title of this series is actually a bit of a misnomer. At least, I think it is. Chris Laird resigned as the head coach at Nicholls on the 21st of June and the university announced that a search would begin shortly there after. But as of this writing, there has been no official announcement of a hiring on their webpage. The short-n-sweet announcement that Laird was bye-bye can be found here. That's as sterile as it gets. I'm sure there is a story here that I don't know (or maybe even care to know), but Nicholls' athletic website isn't exactly known for gushing with informative articles. Most folks know that the higher education facilities in Louisiana have faced all sorts of budget issues and suffice it to say that I'm not terribly surprised at either a) the lack of information available to the public or b) the fact that the position, if filled, isn't advertised.
So, that dispatches with Nicholls. We have McNeese, Northwestern State and Texas A&M -Corpus Christi remaining on our coaching tour.
In case you missed the first two articles (shame on you), you can click on the links below:
The Dozen In Charge, Part 1: The Legends
The Dozen In Charge, Part 2: The Veterans
Generation Next:
Tony Graystone, TAMUCC
Actually, Graystone is not a new coach in the SLC. His post at TAMUCC began last year and he's got one win in his home gym to show for it. The Islanders went 9-22 last year under Graystone and have got as far as any program in the conference to climb in order to gain some measure of consistent respect. To be more positive, TAMUCC did have some decent matches in SLC play last year. I specifically remember them stretching Sam to five sets in Huntsville and they tallied a sweep of Southeastern and Nicholls near the end of the conference slate. Those two wins were probably their highest quality though. I mean, wins against Alcorn State, UT-Pan American and Centenary don't do a lot for me.
Take a look at their 2010 roster. Notice anything? There is a whole lot of "FR" on that list. The only seniors on the team are "shoulder tear waitin' to happen" Ridley and personal fave Jessica Jennett. The offense last year consisted solely of Ridley and now Junior Jessica Korda. Those two accounted for a whopping 65% of the teams' total kills. By way of comparison, our top two in kills last year (Bay and MC both had 362 each) accounted for 40% of the balls finding the floor.
Graystone definitely has the quantity part in his 2010 recruits, but they may have some quality in there too. PrepVolleyball.com ranks their recruiting class among the top 100 in the nation. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with there being seven early signing period girls and two later addition freshman to bring the newcomer total to nine. Ridley, Jennett and Korda are the only non-freshman/sophomores on the team.
So, yes, Graystone is building. Graystone knows what it feels like to win a lot of games though. At one point while the head coach at DII West Texas A&M he won 100 of 106 matches. He reached 300 career victories faster than any other DII volleyball coach in history. I'll leave it to you to be impressed or ask if the competition at West Texas A&M was significantly better than tumbleweeds. I'm inclined to fall on the fence and reserve complete judgement until around 2013 when this signing class blooms.
Terry Gamble, McNeese
Gamble continues the theme of coaches successful at smaller programs. Not like McNeese and TAMUCC are "larger programs", but we are talking DI volleyball as oppose to the junior college ranks where Gamble is a semi-legend. Gamble accumulated 751 victories in the JuCo ranks - good enough to get him elected to the NJCAA (look it up) volleyball coaches Hall of Fame (who knew!). There are a few junior college national championships on his resume too.
I'll miss Dale Starr. Man, that guy was a trip. The veins in that guys head would bulge and he often looked like he was going to go over and bite the ear off one of his players. That guy could get after it. The really astute reader will know that I actually liked (like?) the McNeese team more than most. You can re-read this post here to see what I mean. Warning: that is the post that some think I wrote while stoned.
Yes, I think Nicole Bowden and Priscilla Massengale are good. They graduated their setter (Sarah Cartie, who was also good) so it remains to be seen if Gamble will get anything out of sophomore Becky Bekelja or maybe they'll turn to - you guessed it - junior college transfer Danielle Kraci.
One thing Gamble will have to address is tanking down the stretch. The Cowgirls were horrible at the end of the 2009 season losing their last six conference games to lose out on a tournament berth due to a crazy tiebreaker rule. They were 17-13 last year, but they started the year 13-2, so you do the math. They lost back-to-back five set matches on the last two days of the season at home against Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.
Gamble's been a head coach for 15 seasons prior to being hired as head wrangler of the Cowgirls. With all (due?) respect to Midland Lutheran College, St. Clair County Community College and Iowa Western Community College, I just don't think the past is overly indicative of the future here. Chanel Tyler and Sarah Cartie aren't on this team any more and I think that loss will mean more for 2010 than the coaching change. Like Graystone, Gamble will need time. In a few years, we'll see if McNeese has consistently found the postseason. That will be the measuring stick for Mr. Gamble in Lake Charles.
The Hernesman's, Northwestern State
I guess they figure it's going to take them both to turn this around. Northwestern State won three (as in "3")times last year and didn't win a set in 13 of their 24 matches. So who can blame former head coach Brittany Uffelman for leaving the bat cave (this is a must re-read by the way) and heading back to her roots in Wyoming. Actually, Uffelman did a decent job. Last year was the last in five that NWLA hadn't made the tournament. She is the only coach to ever lead a Demon team to the SLC Tourney.
I have to admit I chuckled a little bit when I read that Northwestern had hired a married set of co-coaches to run the squad. To be fair though, while an undergraduate I majored in a department that had hired several married couples and my home department right now at SFA recently hired a married couple. So, if it can work on the academic side, why not here? Right? [I guess?] [Maybe?] OK, whatever.. moving on...
So, thus begins the Hugh and Stepanie Hernesman era at Northwestern State. Hugh is a former head coach at Hardin Simmons (with again.. a fair amount of success like Graytone and Gamble) and they each have had stints as assistants at Ball State and Wisconsin-Whitewater. I just like typing that: Wisconsin-Whitewater. Wisconsin-Whitewater. It just sounds so wunderful and weefreshing. Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The Hernesman's will bring in three freshman and one transfer to add to a core of returning players from last year. This will be a baptism by fire for the coaching duo as there doesn't appear to be a very rosy outlook for 2010. We open conference play against them in Natchitoches. I admit I'm planning on going. Albeit more to watch the two-headed coaching approach and scout out the bats than be entertained by Demon volleyball.
Despite a fair amount of sarcasm in this post, the truth is that one of these programs - or maybe all - will receive a decent shot in the arm over their coaching changes. I think the transitions will be rough in a few cases and maybe some of these programs won't get the gain they are hoping for.
But who knows, you gotta start somewhere. I mean, these coaches are experiencing a lot of "new firsts". First recruiting classes at their new schools, first fall practices, first meetings... they are in a honeymoon period with their new schools and of course, we all know honeymoons are fun. But when the honeymoon period wears off, it will all boil down to wins and losses - just like it does for any coach of a college athletic team.
I sincerely look forward to meeting these folks. Additionally, I truly wish them success..and I hope it comes fast. We all can agree that if these coaches succeed, then the conference as a whole benefits. The better the teams in our conference get, the more respect the Southland gets in general. So, I wish them all the success they can garner. Except when SFA comes to town or their girls step foot on our floor. In those two cases, I wish all you new coaches a pleasant nightmare.
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