Aiming High

Expectations remain steep for Aggie volleyball 

By: Anthony Esparza

Sophomore middle hitter Meredith Hays patiently awaits a serve at practice.

Despite losing five seniors from a year ago, expectations remain high for the New Mexico State volleyball team in 2012.

NMSU posted a 23-10 record last season, finishing second in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies advanced to the championship match of the WAC Tournament, where they fell to Hawai’i in straight sets. This year, the Aggies plan on taking the court with a more organized game plan.

“There needs to be more than just a team dynamic,” said junior middle blocker Desiree Scott. “We need to work harder, play smarter, be more competitive and come together more as team. I feel like that’s what we’re doing this year. “

After losing a handful of seniors from a year ago, Scott is one of the players who will have a bigger role in 2012.

“We only have one senior, so the younger girls and the juniors all have to step up,” Scott said. “Coach [Jordan] is looking to the girls who have been here to step up, and that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing.”

Scott said the offseason workouts were more intense this year than in her previous two years on the team. She also said the coaching staff is expecting more from the team in 2012.

The WAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll indicates the other nine coaches in the conferences are also expecting a lot from of the Aggies this season. NMSU was picked to win the conference, receiving eight-of-ten first-place votes.

Sophomore middle hitter Meredith Hays said being picked to win the WAC is an honor, but comes at a price.

“It’s a nice compliment to be picked as a team to win the WAC, but that just puts a target on our back,” Hays said. “We have to play as hard and as well as we can every single time we step out on the floor, and that’s not just [for] games, it’s practices too.”

In addition to being picked to win the conference crown, three Aggies were named to the Preseason All-WAC team, including Scott and Hays.

Scott had a productive 2011 season, finishing third on the team in blocks and fifth in kills. She was named to the Southwest Region Team, and was an honorable mention selection on the COBRA Magazine All-National Team.

Hays is coming off a memorable freshman season, in which she became only the second player in program history to record 500 kills. The Herford, Texas native ranked in the top 20 nationally in kills per set and points per set and was named WAC Freshman of the Year.

Hays said she is more comfortable on the college court and will no longer play with the nerves she played with as a freshman.

“Thankfully, playing with nerves is kind of out of my system so that’s really nice,” Hays said. “I think I have a better perspective on the year, and I think my main goal for this year is to keep in mind who I’m playing for, which is first and foremost the Lord and then my team.“

The team will certainly look to Hays to build off her success from last season, as the Aggies compete in the new-look WAC.

Fresno State, Nevada and volleyball powerhouse Hawai’i left the WAC, while Seattle, Texas-Arlington, Texas State, and Texas-San Antonio joined the conference.

“I think it’s awesome that we get to change [things] up and we get to play different teams,” Scott said. “It gives us a new look at new people that we’ve never played before and we don’t know what they do, so we have to step up our game because we don’t know what they’re doing.”

In addition to having more demanding practices in the offseason and playing new teams, the Aggies will be fueled by the unfinished business they believe they left last season.

“I would say we had what it took to go farther than we did, and I think that was one of the roughest things…” Hays said. “I just think there’s a lot of unfinished business and I think we are even more physical this year, so we have a really good shot at it.” 

NMSU opens the 2012 season by playing in the Northern Illinois Tournament in DeKalb, Ill. The two-day tournament begins today and the teams competing are NMSU, Wichita State, North Dakota State and host-school Northern Illinois.