MONTAGE
The
Serving the St. Louis Community College - Meramec community since 1964 ⢠ACP Award Recipient VOLUME 56, ISSUE 6
MARCH 4, 2021
WWW.MERAMECMONTAGE.COM
Serves up!
The Archers volleyball team serves up the season during a pandemic ashley biundo editor-in-chief
A
s another semester begins amidst a pandemic, sports have once again been affected. With all fall sports being moved to spring and games being closed to the public, the STLCC Volleyball team had to cope with the changes. Head Coach Geoff Davis said that as long as they are on the court and playing, they are happy. âAs long as Iâm on the court, as long as the girls are moving, and as long as weâre learning stuff, it really doesnât matter to me when weâre doing it,â he said. âI just want them to be able to compete and I want them to be able to have strong competition where they can develop and grow their skills.â Until further notice, most games are going to be closed to the public; no fans will be allowed to come. Davis said that they are utilizing a lot of video to broadcast games to even more fans, in and out of town. âAll the games are broadcast and since parents canât come, itâs a different kind of vibe,â he said. âBut we can see real good volleyball and now we can reach more people. [One game] the guy said there were 600-700 people watching our match. Because they got to see some they got to see a [game]. Iâm hoping that more people will get exposed to it as a result and have an opportunity for these girls to get an opportunity to play in front of a larger crowd, so hopefully this pandemic passes.â COVID-19 has affected volleyballâs seasons in many ways, not just moving to the spring semester. One would be, recruiting and only playing with a limited number of players. According
to Davis, they didnât have all the players that they thought they would have and it can be difficult playing with only nine players. In addition, the first two matches were cancelled. âWe really wanted those two matches to get a rhythm,â he said. âBecause the third match was against the number one team in the country, it would have been nice to have played a couple of times.â Davis said that the players are doing well and persevering. Although volleyball is pushing through their season, with limited practice time, Davis said that he hopes that his team stays healthy and does everything they can to stay that way. âWe [practice] now early in the morning; weâre just hoping that we can, with the numbers this year, as a result of just cancellations and weâre hoping that we can stay healthy. So weâre doing everything we can to do that,â he said. âSo Iâm hopeful that weâre on a down curve on this.â With a pandemic there have been difficulties that the team faces during the season. Davis said the most difficult part is practice times being cut shorter. âWeâre trying to be more mindful of just how we prepare,â he said. âThe interaction that we have on the court during practice, is limited to a certain amount of time. We have to do a lot of isolated drills, in shorter periods of time to 15-20 minutes. We moved our practice schedule from two hours to 90 minutes, in order to just try to wrap up the amount of things that we do.â The team has to take more breaks during practice and according to Davis that has affected their ability to put in a lot. âItâs kind of made us better because weâve got to be smarter about the time
that we know. And the girls seem to respond well,â he said. âVolleyball practices 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. So weâre in and out, first thing in the morning.â Davis said that morning practices are good in two ways: the girls are up and ready for classes and focusing on coming to practice and hitting all they can with the limited time. Even though volleyball is playing during a pandemic, they have their own strengths and weaknesses. Davis said that the team has Division One Hitters and a mature sophomore class that is able to accomplish a lot. âTheir focus is really good and they come in, they work hard and work with a purpose. They get what they need to get done,â he said. âWeâve got some pretty strong leaders. Weâve had a number of kids that have gone on to play the four year schools here.â Davis said that the team has a competitive Division Two schedule. âI try to put them in front of 50 to 60% of the teams that are in the top 20 in the country because I want them to be ready for April. I want them to be ready for regionals and districts,â he said. âAnd so having those competitions early allows us to see where we need to show some things with our players. Itâs also given us an opportunity to kind of balance the court.â Davis said that having a limited number of players is a weakness they are trying to overcome this season. âWe need more people. Somebody is going to get sick and we have to make a substitution and our middle because she got kind of ill,â he said. âWe had somebody that could step in who has
never played middle before. If we can stay healthy, weâre going to be okay. Because weâre an athletic bunch of kids and weâre a pretty talented group. And the girls like each other; they get along very well. Theyâre all busy, busy, busy. So that has helped them focus their time and energy when they get there.â
Photos by: Ashley Biundo TOP: Right-side hitter, Addison Schneider serves the ball up on Feb. 5 against Metropolitan Community College. LEFT: Outside hitter, Jessie Mireles hits the ball over the net on Feb. 5. MIDDLE: The team cheers after winning a point against Metropolitan Community College. RIGHT: Outside hitter, Emily Neal spikes the ball over the net on Feb. 5.