{"id":72641,"date":"2016-08-31T07:50:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T11:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=72641"},"modified":"2016-08-30T23:02:56","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T03:02:56","slug":"depth-in-favor-of-morrisville-state-volleyball-as-they-kickoff-2016-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=72641","title":{"rendered":"Depth in favor of Morrisville State volleyball as they kickoff 2016 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ColgateRaiders\"<\/a>When you take a step into the Student Activities Center Gymnasium, the atmosphere is a bit different than in any other volleyball season at Morrisville State College. Fifth year head coach Fred Wallace contributes that to an increased competitiveness among those wearing the Mustang jersey, not to mention the addition of talent and depth to this year\u2019s team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year every practice will be like going to battle,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cEvery single position has depth, and no one will have an easy route to the floor on game day.<\/p>\n

Wallace added seven fresh faces to the Mustang roster in 2016 to boast 16 strong on the court this fall, noting that this should be \u201cby far the most versatile team Morrisville State has had.\u201d He noted all seven newcomers have a shot to make a huge impact on the team\u2019s overall ability and is excited to see what lies ahead for the Mustangs on the season.<\/p>\n

Among those on the roster this year are nine returning players, including seniors Jessica Chandler (Morrisvile) and Courtney LaVere (Owego), who will retain their leadership role as captains this season. \u201cChandler is a player who will have a major impact in our success on the court,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cI believe she will have a breakthrough season for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaVere was an offensive threat for opponents just a year ago behind her solid season, and has already proved to have the hard swing throughout preseason. Last year the outside hitter collected 169 kills and assisted another 19 while racking up 216 defensive digs.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs also return leading outside hitter and All-Conference selection Emilee Niejadlik (Hamburg), who compiled 183 kills and 37 stops at the net.<\/p>\n

Chandler, LaVere and Niejadlik will all work off the feeds of Helena Hanes (St. Mary\u2019s, Pa.) and Kim Dunkleman (Williamsville) who return to their setter positions following stellar freshmen campaigns and combined for 653 or the team\u2019s total 729 assists on the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season we finished one match outside of the conference play-offs,\u201d Wallace stated. \u201cGoing into the new season I think a component that has been missing could potentially become our greatest strength, and that\u2019s depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectations continue to grow as we add talent to our program, and are always high in every area,\u201d he continued. \u201cLast year\u2019s team did an amazing job getting our culture to an amazing place: our GPA got better, our competitiveness improved, and our understanding of the importance of making smart decisions got better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, though, our understanding of what it means to be a true team sky rocketed,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cWe need to keep believing in the path we are on, and if we do that, we will still be playing in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrisville State opens the season on the road at Castleton on Thursday, before hosting a seven team tournament on Saturday and Sunday and a slew of additional non-conference match-ups in preparation for a tight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) slate which begins Sept. 17\u00a0at Cobleskill.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs were selected to finish seventh overall in the preseason NEAC poll, as voted on by conference coaches. Gallaudet University was picked to finish first, followed by SUNY Polytechnic, both of which Morrisville State faces in the opening conference weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

For additional schedule and roster information, visit the college\u2019s athletic web site at www.morrisvillestateathletics.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you take a step into the Student Activities Center Gymnasium, the atmosphere is a bit different than in any other volleyball season at Morrisville State College. Fifth year head coach Fred Wallace contributes that to an increased competitiveness among those wearing the Mustang jersey, not to mention the addition of talent and depth to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}