The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Ready to Open 2005 Regular-Season
August 26 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 26, 2005
Akron, Ohio - Rebuilding is often a word that coaches hate to use because it often comes with failure. So to use the word rebuild to describe the transition from the 2004 season to the upcoming 2005 campaign is a word UA volleyball head coach Mike Sweitzer refuses to utter.
The Zips return four starters and eight letterwinners to the lineup. With such young talent, nine of the team's 15 members are freshmen or sophomores, UA will turn to a group of five seniors to lead this team both athletically and emotionally.
"We have a young make up with three sophomores and six freshmen on this team," said Sweitzer. "But we also have a great deal of experience to go along with the youth."
Team captain Rachael Rush (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home HS) will have to continue her leadership on and off the court to get the true potential out of all the young players on the roster. Rush's classmates, Emily Kocinski (North Royalton, Ohio/Padua), Sarah Hopper (El Paso, Texas/Burges HS), Mara Capraruolo (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman HS) and Laura Divoky (Ravenna, Ohio/Southeast HS), are looking to make their senior season one to remember as they will push the entire team to new, but very familiar heights.
"Stewart, Rutledge and Kocinski all need to take their games to
an even higher level," said Sweitzer. "They were fantastic last
season and all had break out years, but if we are looking to
improve, that trio will need to step it up and pace this team
offensively."
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Setter
Rush, who played her first full season last year after backing up Lyndsay Schmiedel in 2003, plans to have another solid year as she looks to continue her climb up the all-time career assists lists. "We are as good as we have ever been at the setter position with Rush leading the way and Abby backing her up," said Sweitzer.
Last season Rush entered the year just three assists shy of the 1,000-assist mark and in 10th place all-time. Rush quickly exceeded the 1000-assist plateau on her way to recording 1,333 assists in 2004 and moving from tenth all-time to fifth. Her single-season total was the eighth best in school history.
"Rush was tremendous, especially when you take into consideration that the players surrounding her were very young and had little playing experience with her," Sweitzer said. "I have a feeling that she will able to accomplish even more this season with Emily [Kocinski], Molly [Rutledge] and Jennifer [Stewart] all coming back this season."
Providing depth at the setter position will be redshirt freshman, Abby Varterasian (Ypsilanti, Mich.). At 6-foot-3 she was the tallest pure setter in the nation among the 2004 recruits.
"Abby had great growth over the last year and she is now ready to compete and gain the experience needed to play at this level," Sweitzer said.
Outside Hitter
Last season the outside hitter position was in question as the only
returning starter to the entire Zips lineup was Hopper. However,
this season the team is in great hands as they will utilized their
depth with Hopper leading the core group of Kocinski, Jennifer
Stewart (Kentwood, Mich./ East Kentwood HS) and newcomer Colleen
Dryja (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick).
Kocinski, who was a co-captain during last season's breakout campaign, will look to continue her outstanding performance into 2005. In 2004, she led the team with 394 kills and finished second with 333 digs. Her 3.86 kills per game ranked seventh in the MAC and eighth on the UA single-season kills list. Her dominate performance last year led to her being named UA volleyball's Most Improved Player.
Stewart, who was a MAC All-Freshman team selection, also established herself as the future of this program as she totaled 15 double-double's on her way to recording a team-high 339 digs and 372 kills, which ranked second on the team. Stewart even had two separate matches in which she recorded over 20 kills and 20 digs.
Freshman Dryja will provide more depth in a position where the Zips are very secure. Dryja will be able to learn slowly from some great talent and should be a force in the future for the Zips offensive attack.
"She has a nose for the ball and an amazing volleyball IQ," Sweitzer said. "She will need to work hard in the preseason, but we expect for her to be among the group of freshmen to make an immediate impact."
The Zips even had a late addition to the youth movement as Samantha Jenkins (Malvern, Ohio/Malvern HS) earned a walk-on roster spot in the summer. "She is very athletic and intelligent," Sweitzer said. "We could tell she was something special when we saw her play."
Middle Hitter / Right Side Hitter
Similar to the outside hitter position the Zips had no idea who
would step up and fill the middle hitter and right side hitter
spots, but similar to the outside hitter position a group of young
players stepped up and showed the MAC that they will be heard from
over the next few seasons.
Capraruolo and Molly Rutledge (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster HS) competed last year to figure out which one would lead the attack. Well it turned out that all three were good enough to make an impact throughout the season.
"With Caprurolo returning, she will provide depth on the right side, which was very inconsistent last season," said Sweitzer.
Capraruolo began the 2004 season strong, but missed a good part of the year after she tore her ACL at Western Michigan, only 11 matches into the season. She totaled 65 kills, 25 blocks and 13 digs in those 11 matches.
Rutledge on the other hand played a full season and was able to dominate as she ranked third on the team with 330 kills. She paced the team with a .292 hitting percentage, 24 service aces and 97 total blocks.
"Rutledge is one of, if not, the best young middle players in the MAC," said Sweitzer.
Brittany Fox (Toledo, Ohio/ St. Ursula Academy) and Brittany Sovran (Lansing, Mich./DeWitt HS) will provide more depth in the middle and compete for time on the right side.
Libero/Defensive Specialist
With the departure of Lori Snider, UA's all-time leader in digs,
the Zips will turn to Kim Horn (North Canton, Ohio/Jackson HS) to
spark the team in its well-known defensive play.
Horn, who was named to the Academic All-MAC team in 2004, recorded 201 digs and 25 assists in 96 games played.
"Horn is very aggressive and wants to see this team win now," Sweitzer said. "She has worked hard on her game this off-season and will need to begin to be a leader on and off the court, because next year she will be the lone senior leader."
On the defensive side, Horn will be joined by Divoky, who has missed time in all three of her seasons at Akron with injuries, and Shayla Gilbert (Lorain, Ohio/Admiral King HS), who played in 34 games as a defensive specialist, recording 43 digs.
Divoky is a true team leader that is looking to make her last senior year her most successful. After a nice spring season she is poised to contribute to the team for a full campaign.
Gilbert has also made a dramatic improvement from 2004, which should translate into more playing time this season.
"She is a very versatile player and provides us with a lot of options," Sweitzer said. "She can play at the libero, defensive specialist and even outside hitter position. She does very well at the defending the entire court.
"Our team's major strength will be on defense. Our back row will be vital to our success and we will be much more physical in our blocking at the net."
Schedule
The Zips are looking forward too beginning the season with their
homecourt advantage as they host both the Akron Early Bird
Invitational (Aug. 27-28), which will welcome Youngstown State,
Canisius and Robert Morris, and the Hilton Invitational (Sept 2-3),
which will bring in Elon, Oakland and West Virginia.
"The schedule this season is a perfect match for the growth our team will take as they prepare for the Mid-American Conference Championships," Sweitzer said.
Following the back-to-back home invitationals, the Zips will hit the road for two tournaments before opening the MAC regular season schedule. The Wolverine Classic (Sept. 9-10), hosted by the University of Michigan, will match UA against Illinois State, Cleveland State and of course, potential top 25 Michigan.
The Zips will then head out west to Reno, Nev. to take part in the Nevada Invitational (Sept. 16-17) where they will face another potential top 25 team in California, along with Montana State and host, Nevada.
Following the four season-opening tournaments, the Zips dive right into MAC play as they travel to defending conference champion, Ohio (Sept. 23) and then face rival Kent State (Sept. 24).
UA finishes off September and runs through all of October with MAC contests before closing out the conference regular season on Nov. 10, when they play host to Northern Illinois. The Zips non-conference schedule ends with a match on Nov. 6 at Niagara, following their trip to Buffalo the day before.
As usual, the first round of the MAC Tournament will take place at the home courts of the higher seeds. However, a change in the format will move the final three rounds to Toledo, Ohio where a champion will be crowned.
Season Overview With the mix of youth and experience the Zips feel that they will be able to compete with any opponent they will face this season. They want to make people aware that this team is not to be veiwed as a surprise this season because they plan to win.
"You can only surprise teams when you feel you are not supposed to or cannot defeat teams," Sweitzer said. "And we expect to compete and win."
