Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

The Second Season

September 16, 2021

The past two-plus weeks were quite successful for James Madison's women's volleyball team as a whole and several of its players in particular. Over that time:

* The Dukes won the Dunn Campbell Invitational, sweeping the host Camels (27-25, 25-19, 25-14), Alabama State (25-11, 25-19, 25-7), and North Carolina Central (25-19, 25-21, 25-19); the Mountaineer Invitational with straight-set wins over Maryland-Baltimore County (25-10, 25-13, 25-21) and George Washington (25-17, 25-22, 25-15) and a nail-biting five-set triumph over West Virginia (22-25, 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-12); and a one-off at home against American University (25-16, 25-21, 25-13) to put them at 10-0 entering conference play with a set record of 30-5.

* Miette, Savannah, and Caroline were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Dunn Campbell Invitational, with Miette also being named Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week for her performance in the tournament, where she racked up 35 kills, 8 total blocks, 2 aces, and a hitting percentage of .347 (35 kills - 9 errors - 75 total attempts).

* JMU received votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll.

With all this good news, the team's spirit was high heading into tonight's match against North Carolina-Wilmington. As there was no practice for which to prepare, Lauren met with Savannah, Cameryn, Caroline, and Sophia for lunch at the Student Center.

Lauren: As much as I didn't think I'd have to say this, I'm actually a little bit nervous heading into tonight's battle with UNCW. Not nervous in the sense that we'll lose, but nervous because I'm not sure the team is taking our opponent seriously and the players are looking ahead to Saturday's match against the College of Charleston. The chatter yesterday in the locker room and on the court revolved around our undefeated record and the challenge the Cougars would pose, with focus on the Seahawks almost non-existent. How do we "bring the team back to reality" before we take the court around 6 hours from now?

Cameryn: Remind us and them that the 10-0 start now has us being the hunted as opposed to the hunter. Anyone got numbers on sets lost and sweeps thus far?

Lauren: We went five with VCU and West Virginia and four with High Point. The rest were straight-set wins. So five sets dropped out of 35 and seven sweeps.

Savannah: What's your expectation of the match?

Lauren: Based on the last couple of years against them, we're likely to take it in three. I plan to use the bench a little bit more tonight, depending on how quickly we establish dominance in each set. I also want to get Sarah more involved and we have to consider permanent changes to the substitution rotation and positioning if Liv isn't able to play again.

Sophia: Any ideas on how we do that?

Lauren: I'm thinking....none of the coaches in the CAA has ever tried a three-middle front row, or two consistently with an opposite-handed right side. Has me considering the use of a 6-2.

Savannah: As a wrinkle to what we already do, or as our new system of play?

Lauren: Probably not so much a wrinkle as a different tactic to employ if teams are able to frustrate or shut down Miette and Sophia.

Cameryn: However this idea is supposed to go, it can't jostle the confidence our teammates have in the current system of play. We work so hard on knowing who subs for who, or can sub for who, and who goes where after the serve, that a change like this could backfire.

Lauren: That's true. OK, I won't commit to rolling this possibility out until we have a chance to test it in practice on Monday and Tuesday. Get out of here and enjoy the couple of extra hours you have available today. See you at 5:30.