Colorado University Athletics

Serve It Up! With Kristin Martell

Serve It Up! With Kristin Martell
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CU sophomore middle blocker/right side hitter Kristin Martell is going to keep the CU fans posted on all of the developments throughout spring practices. Check back for weekly updates and see how the team progresses this spring.

 

April 16, 2009

Hey everyone!!

This week in practice was a little different.  We only had five players this week in practice due to a flu that is going around and some minor injuries.  BUT! everyone will be back next week healthy and ready to go.  We worked on a lot of defense this week in practice and we did some passing and serving.  Some players from the menGÇÖs club volleyball team came in to practice with us this week and they will continue to practice with us to help us get better, which we all really appreciate. 

We spent a lot of time learning a collapse dig this week.  It is where you pass before your platform hits the ground.  With this specific dig you can cover more area in front of you.  We then learned to turn our hips while doing the collapse dig so that the ball goes where we want it to go.  We only worked on it for two days and we already got so much better at it.

There is a change in plans on where and when we play this week.  We scrimmage Regis University tonight.  Tomorrow we will have an intra-squad scrimmage at Coors and we would love to see you all there!

Thank you again all for your support and IGÇÖll talk to you on Monday!


GO BUFFS!!

 

April 13, 2009

Hello everyone!

I hope ya'll had a great weekend and a wonderful Easter.  We played the University of Denver and Colorado State University in a pair of exhibition matches this weekend in Sterling, Colo.  We lost to both teams but we played decent.  We struggled a little at times but we did a very good job at siding out immediately for the point.  After we were done playing, we went to Schylur Edelman's house to eat dinner and before heading back to Boulder.
 
We still have a whole lot to work to do this spring and therefore we will use these last two weeks of practice wisely.  We have another tournament this weekend in Boulder at the Coors Events Center. I am not sure of the specifics just yet, but I will let you know on Thursday. Have a good week!

GO BUFFS!

April 9, 2009

Hello!

Thanks for tuning in again! This week we worked on a lot of passing techniques. We focused on who has what seam in between each passer. It is an easy concept which makes our passing easier and much more effective. We are also working on less movement on our serving so that we can have a harder serve right above the net. A lot of girls on the team are jump serving and the few that aren't, are working on a hard standing float serve.

This Saturday we play at a tournament in Sterling, Colo. We play at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and will play Denver first and then Colorado State. We are very excited to put our new skills to the test against our instate rivals and also to keep getting comfortable playing as a team together with our new offense.


Have a great weekend and a HAPPY EASTER. Stay tuned and I will let ya'll know how we did on Monday!

Marty


 

April 6, 2009

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned earlier, we had a tournament this past weekend in Houston, Texas. We played Wichita State, Louisiana-Lafayette, SMU and LSU.  We lost to Wichita State, beat Louisiana-Lafayette, lost to SMU in three games, and split with LSU. We played the best two out of three sets and we split with LSU because we had to run and catch our flight! 
 
It was a successful weekend overall.  We got to work on a lot of things we have been practicing.  After our first tournament, we now know what we need to work on out of those things and we can move on and focus on even more things to get better. 

This week is going to be more intense than last week in practice and a lot more time consuming, so we are all trying to keep up with studies and still focus on getting better every practice.  I have noticed a huge difference in the focus on our team. We can focus now in a drill for longer periods of time, while still doing the correct technique.

This weekend Coach Tom said that we have a long, long, long way to go but we are on the right track and we are making progress. 

GO BUFFS!

April 2, 2009

Hey ya'll!

It's our second week of full practices and boy are we tired!  We leave tomorrow for Houston and we can't wait!  Practices this week were very good.  We are doing better on calm passing with little movements and good arm platforms.  Also pushing up the pass to the net and getting it high so that our setters can jump set is important.  We are also learning to work hard when we are very tired.  We feel like we have accomplished a lot, however we have a long way to go. 

We play four teams on Saturday in Houston and come back to Boulder on Saturday night.  In practice we have been doing a lot of competition drills which are fun because it pushes our teammates.  I will let you guys know how we did this weekend on Monday!  Have a great weekend and GO BUFFS!

Marty

March 30, 2009

Hey everyone,

We are all back from a relaxing Spring Break and are ready to get practicing again.  We are going to start practicing at the Coors Events Center this month which will be very nice since that is where we play all of our matches.  We have started practicing at night and we have weights and speed and agility in the morning.

We are all registering for classes today for the fall which everyone is excited about. 

We have a spring tournament in Houston on Saturday at the Texas Tornadoes Complex.  We can't wait because it is our first tournament with our new coaching staff and also we will be able to put our new system to the test to see how much we have learned and what still needs improvement. 


 

March 19, 2009

Happy Thursday everyone!

In practices this week we worked on a lot of things.  On Tuesday and Thursday we worked on defense and blocking and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday we worked on out-of-system setting and plays. We also worked on calm passing by keeping our eyes level and maintaining our base position. We are working on quicker hitting transition and a quicker offense.  I think we are progressing every day in the drills we are doing and itGÇÖs very exciting! 

The theme of our practices right now is effort.  Everything is different and we are learning new things, so we just have to get after it as best as we can until it becomes natural.  Spring break starts this weekend and we are all going home so hope you have a good week and I'll talk to ya'll soon!

 

March 16, 2009

Hey ya'll!

Our two assistants, Meg Henican and Tom Hogan, have officially joined the CU Volleyball staff!

We are beyond excited to get things going.  Meg joined us in practice for the first day on Friday.  She brings a lot of intensity to the gym and has a lot of great feedback and critiques.  Tom joined us for the first time today and ran our training.  He also brings a lot of intensity and explains things well so that we can work on doing it right the first time.  We are worked on out-of-system plays and defense and are training to be the best team. We truely believe we are on the right path to achieving that. 

Go Buffs!

March 9, 2009

Hey everyone!
This last saturday our team helped out with the Humane Society Drive at the CU Women's Basketball game.  We showed up an hour before the game to collect food, treats, dog beds, leaches, kitty litter, etc.  Then we signed autographs for the "Read with the Buffs" children that came to the game.  Student-athletes volunteer to go to different schools to read with kids who are in fifth grade and under throughout the year and the kids get coupons to come to a basketball game. It was great to see them and they were so excited to be there.  The Humane Society Drive was a huge success. The kids had fun petting the animals and getting autographs and we had a great time cheering on the Buffs while they took on Kansas State despite the loss.

In practices we are working on a quicker offense and we are working on our jump serving a lot.  Our setters Kaitlyn (Burkett) and Megan (Cyr) are working really hard to make our offense work well.  It is a hard change but we are getting a lot better at it.  We will know who our assistant coaches are in the next few days and we are very excited!

March 5, 2009

Hello everyone!! Here is an update on what our team has been up to this spring. We have had 6 a.m. workouts with James Hardy, our strength and conditioning coach for six weeks. We have done agility, conditioning and lifted a lot!

Now that those are over we are starting our official practices. Coach Kritza is in Boulder for good now; she moved this past weekend so we are all situated and ready to get going. Practices are very intense and we do a lot of drills that are making us be more intense and more competitive. Our team has already learned so much in practices and canGÇÖt wait to keep getting better. Coach Kritza and all of us are busting it in practice and workouts every day so that we can win a Big 12 Volleyball Championship this next season! No news yet about the assistant coaches but we should know soon! Stay tuned!


GO BUFFS!
CU Volleyball Team