Under The Radar: A Redshirt Diary

Twists and Turns

February 22: Lauren officially offered Marc the graduate assistant position for the 2022-2023 academic year. As they discussed matters concerning the program, he brought up Rebecca's conversation with Dennis Hart, the athletic director at St. John's College, with regards to her alma mater hosting one of the team's Spring matches along with her rationale for thinking of DC as a good site. Marc mentioned a handful of possibilities (Towson, Penn, Villanova, Delaware) before Lauren narrowed it down to two, those being Penn and Delaware as the other two were quite likely going to want to play the Dukes at home as opposed to a neutral site. Other topics of their meeting included: the Conference USA/Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Tournaments in Huntsville, AL at the end of April (the finals on the 30th would coincide with his 24th birthday) as well as the March To May one in Gulf Shores, AL (home of the NCAA Beach Volleyball tournament) March 18-20; the desire to play a mini-tournament in the Convocation Center as part of the Spring schedule; and Lauren's list of dual-eligible possibilities and potential swaps from indoor to beach in order to give her a means of using a portion of that program's 6 equivalency scholarships on one or two of her end-of-the-bench players and therefore keep them at JMU.

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February 23rd: Grace Wenrich, a setter from Watkinsville, GA, signed her National Letter of Intent to play for James Madison in a ceremony which was broadcast on Instagram Live by her high school's athletic director, allowing for Caroline, Rebecca, and Hannah to be unofficially introduced to their incoming 5'9" protégé and, in Hannah's case, a fellow Sport Management major. Also on Wednesday, Savanah met with Lauren prior to practice to exchange information about her place in the program and the current activity surrounding her in the Transfer Portal.

Savanah: Got a few, Coach?

Lauren: Yeah. Take a seat, Sav.

Savanah sat down across from Lauren, then folded her hands into her lap.

Lauren: What's on your mind?

Savanah: I haven't had a whole lot of success with getting legitimate bites in the Portal. George Mason is practically begging me to come there, but the other interested schools are all D-III, meaning Mom and Dad would be paying way out-of-pocket if I chose one of those. If I decide to withdraw from the Portal and return to JMU next year, what do you foresee my role being?

Lauren: If we keep the Bombs Away lineup as our standard system of play, chances are you'd be able to play some on the pins. There would also be opportunity to get time once we enter the conference season because our first impression of our Sun Belt opponents is that we're going to be a good bit better than them.

Savanah: What about the new beach program?

Lauren: To participate in beach, it would have to be as a beach-only player given that you wouldn't be on scholarship for indoor.

Savanah pondered what Lauren said, with the questioning look on her face leading her coach to inquire about it.

Lauren: What are you thinking?

Savanah: Just that I'm not seeing my value to the program at the moment. The logjam at middle blocker, with there possibly being four players ahead of me at the position, all of whom would be counters I'm reckoning, again makes me wonder if I'd do better somewhere else. I'm not totally interested in leaving James Madison, but I also need to know that I am of value here.

Lauren: I consider you of value as a positive locker room presence and how your friendships with Danielle, Elizabeth, and Hannah contribute to the overall team culture. Unfortunately, I can't quantify that by way of having you be a counter given the number of out-of-state players on our roster and the need per NCAA rules to count anyone who might be considering playing both indoor and beach next year.