The ASU volleyball team returns to practice this week hoping to build on their past victory against Southern Mississippi.
After playing a solid match against the Golden Eagles, the Sun Devils took that momentum and transferred it into their next two practices.
Sophomore outside hitter Danica Mendivil said that the victory on Saturday boosted the team’s confidence.
“Coming off of our two (losses) on Friday, winning on Saturday helped us reinstate that we can win, we got this,” Mendivil said.
The volleyball team heads to North Carolina on Wednesday. ASU coach Jason Watson said that his team has been working hard during this short week of practice.
“It was a short week for us,” Watson said. “I thought we’ve had two good days of practice (and) I feel like we got some offensive work done which we needed.”
ASU learns through the camera
Watching film of an opponent can help a team prepare for an upcoming game. When a team watches themselves on film, it’s probably one of best coaching tools available.
Senior middle blocker Sonja Markanovich talked about how film helps her improve and helps identify areas that need work.
“Everything that we have identified in film we try to implement it into practice,” Markanovich said. “As a result we had a better practice. We knew what we had to focus on, where our weaknesses were and where our strengths were.”
Coaches and players believe that these film sessions will help the team improve as the season progresses.
Mendivil looking to continue success
Mendivil had an impressive performance last weekend in Iowa.
When asked about her success she immediately gave credit to her teammates, especially her setter.
She also explained that she performs best when the team doesn’t focus on the pressure.
“We’ve got to relax and have fun,” she said. “I play better when I do that, so I just need to go out there have fun and keep trying to help our setter out.”
Watson said he’s excited to see where Mendivil goes this season as a player.
“We’re really excited about her,” Watson said. “We want her to be a much bigger presence for us offensively and I think she has worked hard this week to kind of maintain that.”
Serves under radar
During practice the Sun Devils spent some time focusing on their serves.
Watson even used a radar gun on Tuesday to measure the team’s serves.
Mendivil said that the team was emphasizing on serving the ball inbounds.
“The more serves you miss, that totally shifts the momentum,” said Mendivil. “If you can’t get a serve in then you don’t even have a chance to keep on scoring.”
Markanovich explained that when ASU completes a hard serves it keeps the opponent out of sync. A tough serve disrupts the opponents planned attack and gives the Sun Devils time to set up to defend.
“When we have a good serve we put (the opponents) out of system, which makes it a lot easier for us to be in system,” Markanovich said. “We have a good block and we can set up and make our offense out of it.”
Injury report
Redshirt freshman libero Katie Fontes was sporting an arm cast on Tuesday but was still contributing in drills by hitting with one arm.
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
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