The Mavericks have already seen dominance in the freshman this season.
With only two collegiate games under their belt, the freshmen on the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) volleyball team have shown that the future of the program is bright.
“The freshmen are a very talented group and have already had a big impact on the program. The key is that they have bought into the TEAM FIRST culture and without every playing match they understand they need to work hard,” Volleyball Head Coach, David Fleming, said.
Making the transition from playing at the high school level to the collegiate level could be a challenge due to a change of pace in the game. But for freshman setter Sabrina VanDeList she found that after a few practices she was able to make the adjustment quickly.
“The atmosphere is more intense compared to high school. The flow of the game is just faster so keeping up with that when I first started practicing was a challenge. But now that we have been in the game and the first five points I was a little bit off but once I got the flow of it I felt more confident at that point,” VanDeList said.
VanDeList and freshman setter Hahni Johnson both have helped and changed the Mavericks offense to a faster tempo according to Fleming. VanDeList ended the weekend with 46 assists, while Johnson helped the team by serving two aces.
Johnson explained that she wants to do whatever she can to help the team whether that is at the serving mark, setting to the hitters or somewhere else on the court.
“I need to be more versatile so I can be a libro and I can set the hitters and I can make an impact while I am not in my position,” Johnson said.
Freshman outside hitter Gabrielle Vogt came to play, by helping the team to their two victories last weekend with 17 kills herself.
“I just keep pushing myself forward and doing the best I can with every opportunity that I can and knowing that every team is different in finding their weaknesses on the block and not doing the same thing every single time and to find creative new ways to score,” Vogt said.
Vogt has already brought heat as an attacker and brings more energy to a team that was already full of energy and personality. Vogt has already shown her coaches and team that she is someone that is ready to help the team do as well as they can.
“We like Gabby because she is fearless and makes plays freshmen in college usually don’t,” Fleming said.
The expectations by the coaching staff is that every athlete in the program is ready to compete for championships on the court.
“What I hope the freshmen realize, is that if they continue to work hard, stick together and continue to improve they will be a group that is remembered around CMU for a long time,” Fleming said.
