Colorado State University Athletics
Spring update: Blog post from Acacia Andrews
4/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Hey Rams fans! This is middle blocker Acacia Andrews, and I wanted to update y'all on this past week's practice and scrimmage down at the University of Denver!
Last week we went hard and practiced every day, in addition to great lifting and conditioning sessions on three of the mornings. The focus of the practices was making sure all three of the girls setting (Grace, Dri and Crystal) got equal reps and more familiarity with the hitters. We worked on set locations as well as transition work -- meaning lots of team drills. The team is always happy to get into the six-on-six setting rather than individual breakouts, because that's where we get to incorporate everything we've been working on and put it into live play. Thursday and Friday were shorter practices but some of the hardest of the week. Tom played around with different lineup choices, and switched out the setters to see who was meshing best with the different hitters. We had a lot of end-game and position-specific competition drills, which allowed for girls to get the reps needed. We ended our last indoor team practice on Friday with smiles, looking forward to scrimmaging the next day.
Early Saturday morning we headed down to DU. We played former assistant Jesse Mahoney's team at 9:30, squeezing in three games against the Pioneers. The first game was a battle as we worked to get back into the groove of playing against someone other than ourselves. DU won the first game and the second, but the Rammies finally got a win in the third set, which was played to 15. I think those games really showed us some things to improve on, as well as warmed us up for the next three games against Northern Colorado. We played with more focus and energy in the games against the Bears, and won all three. Takeaways to improve on include making sure blocks are closed, managing out-of-system balls and communicating more on the court. Tom was happy overall with our improvement throughout the day, and applauded us for our hard work of playing six games back to back. Overall, the scrimmage was positive, and we definitely got better over the course of the day!
I think there has been some definite improvement in the past several weeks following our first scrimmage in Colby, Kan. The team, as well as different individuals, has seen changes and advances throughout the course of spring ball, and this weekend showed us exactly how much development we have actually accomplished -- which is always encouraging. Spring is designed to be hard, both mentally and physically, but being able to see improvements toward the end of the semester makes it all worth it.
Last week was the conclusion of our indoor practice and competition. This week we are taking CSU volleyball outside to the sand courts. We'll be working on doubles and sand training all week, gearing up for a sand tournament this weekend in New Mexico. Here's to sunny days and hopefully not too much sand in the eyes! Thanks for tuning in! GO RAMS! ~Acacia
