BEMIDJI - Just two days (and four practices) into the 2015 preseason, the Bemidji State volleyball team already feels comfortable.
Not too comfortable, mind you - a team that won just 11 matches in the past two seasons knows that complacency will get it nowhere.
But the mood at practice Tuesday afternoon made it clear that the Beavers already feel more relaxed around one another than one would expect for just the second day of preseason practice.
“You can tell everybody wants to be here,” said senior libero Kayla DeJong, one of three captains for the Beavers this season. “And the best part is, you can see that everybody has put in the work this summer. We’re not trying to catch up and get back in shape. Everybody is ready to go. And that’s including the freshman.”
The five incoming freshman this year join a team that’s slightly more experienced than it has been in the past. Four seniors are on the roster this year - DeJong, defensive specialist Courtney Fox (another captain), middle blocker Chelsea Frison and setter Ashley Kieker. Junior outside hitters Amanda Tronick and Jessica Yost are the team’s main offensive weapons, and both had solid numbers last season.
DeJong said depth is one main difference this season.
“That’s something also we’ll see that we haven’t in the past, we’ll have more depth in the front row,” she said. “We won’t have just two hitters and nothing left.
“We have people that are pushing constantly for that spot because everybody knows their spots aren’t safe. And that’s good to have.
“Same in the back row. It means you can’t have a practice off.”
The Beavers finished 5-23 overall last season and 3-15 in conference play, but played better against those top teams than they had in years past. Head coach Wayne Chadwick, entering his sixth season as BSU head coach, is still looking for his first winning record in Bemidji (and BSU’s first winning record since 1999, under Donna Palivec).
Tronick, who is the third co-captain, said the team’s depth this season should help them compete better in the incredibly challenging Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season. Four NSIC teams (Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and Wayne State) were in the top six of the AVCA Division II coaches poll released Tuesday.
“In years past, people knew us, but they didn’t know our true potential,” Tronick said.
“Being that underdog role is kind of fun because, we know we have competed with those teams in the past and now we are a little more experienced.”
If this is to be the year that the Beavers finally climb the ladder - a mid-table finish in the NSIC standings, as opposed to a bottom-four finish - the schedule certainly favors it.
Due to a quirk in the NSIC schedule, the Beavers only have to play Southwest Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth or Concordia St. Paul once this season, and all of those matches are in Bemidji. SMSU is the defending national runner-up.
“We have a good schedule this year,” DeJong said. “For some reason we always have a bad gym we play in. Ours is Sioux Falls, and we don’t have to go there this year, for example.
“And then we have a lot of good home matches against some of the best teams, and that could really help. Also, a lot of the places we do go to we usually play really well in.”
But the Beavers, who start the season Sept. 4 at the Grand Valley State tournament in Allendale, Mich., know everything really comes down to being dedicated during these two weeks of preseason practice. Once they start clicking in practice, it will come in matches.
“It starts in practice, with players competing against each other and pushing each other, making each other better,” Fox said. “As a senior and as a captain, I specifically go to some of the freshman and I tell them that they need to outplay some of my juniors. I think we all understand that competition now makes us better.”
“I think with us having all those players back, now we all know what we need to do. We’ve been in these positions for years now.”
