Volleyball Spring Q&A with Jesse Mahoney

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team finished up the 2019 spring season last week after training for the past month and competing in four matches.

The team went 2-2 this spring, playing four matches of four sets, two against Denver and one against CSU and UNC.

SPRING Q&A WITH HEAD COACH JESSE MAHONEY

How do you think the spring went overall? What was it like having less people in the spring?

"I think our spring season went well. Spring is the opportunity for growth, especially for young players that maybe didn't get a lot of reps and opportunity in the fall. For that aspect a lot of our younger kids got a lot of opportunity in practice and also competition opportunities in matches. For that reason spring is always a positive. We had only, most of the time, nine or ten healthy bodies that could go day in and day out. We got a lot of good reps in that sense as well. Maybe didn't play enough six-on to create that as much as we wanted to, but with the addition of all our new players coming in the fall we will get that going in August."

How did you see Jenna progress after a successful freshman season:

"The biggest jump you see for most players is freshman to sophomore year, especially players that play as freshmen, you see a huge jump from their freshman to sophomore year. We saw that with Jenna towards the end of her freshman year and are really excited about what she brings to the table, not only as an athlete and a setter, but also as a leader for this team. Really gave her an opportunity to take the reins and direct traffic and get comfortable in that role, so we are really looking forward to what she brings next season."

How has Justine and others in attacking roles progressed:

"I think Justine has had a good spring passing, she has always been a good passer but she has really focused on that this spring and made some strides there. She is a dynamic attacker. We are always looking to get her to be a little more efficient and I think she is starting to understand that and making some positive changes in her offensive game as well. Some other players that really got some opportunities include Lillie Klemmer. She got an opportunity to play on the right side which is a new position for her. Took her a little while to get comfortable with that but did a really nice job in our competition phase. Emily, she's been a backup setter and backup right side, a jack-of-all-trades, really had her focus on the right side this spring as well and saw some positive results there. Dani Price, who started last year as a freshman, doing a really nice job in the middle and Alli came in and got a lot of good reps in the middle for us as well. A lot of young faces and a lot of opportunities for kids that didn't play a whole lot up to this point but are looking to do good things for us next year.

How has Rachel been at libero this spring:

I am really excited for Rachel. Her and Gabby battled a little bit for the libero role last season. Rachel had it towards the end of the season and really gave her a confidence boost going into the spring. She has definitely taken over some of the leadership responsibilities and really trying to help our younger defensive specialists along. I am really proud of her for making the collegiate national team, I think that's going to be a great experience for her to get out for a week and train with some really high level coaches and high level players. I think that has been good for her going into her senior year as she really fought for that position and now she has an opportunity to excel in it."

How did the matches go:

Played four matches, you can look at the record I think we were 2-2 so a little bit of a mixed bag. We try not to focus on wins and losses in the spring, it is hard to do you want to win everything. Really what we are looking ofr is improvement. If we have a player that is not particularly good at something we want to put them in a position to do that under stress so that they can grow and get better. When we come around to the fall we will assess and figure out how we can best win, but in the spring it is how we can best grow. I think we saw bits and pieces of that this spring. Certainly our players have a good understanding of what they need to continue to work on and what they do well and have to improve on. In that sense, competing in the spring was really good for us. We cannot create a match-like environment in practice, it's just impossible, so the opportunity to play those four matches was important.

Can you explain the team playing some beach at the end of the spring season:

Every spring we go and play on the beach a little bit, what passes for the beach in Colorado at least. I think our players really enjoy it. It's a change of pace, it's an opportunity to have a little fun and get dirty out in the sand. Also an opportunity for players that don't pass or set very much to be forced to do that and grow their game. We have been out early this week and will be later this week and a lot of fun and smiles out there.

What does the future look like with so many new faces coming in next year:

We will go from 10 bodies to 19 bodies here pretty quickly. A lot of really talented new players coming in. We have every position with depth which is nice. We will have a lot more opportunity to play a lot more than we did in the spring, so that will be fun for the players as well. A lot of next season with so many new faces will be organizing and teaching and getting everyone on the same page. We will be really good, it's just how long is it going to take to get there and we want to get there as fast as we can.

Players Mentioned

Lillie Klemmer

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