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Preview: Volleyball hoping to improve upon record-setting 2009
INTERVIEW WITH COACH JON MOSELEY -
SUHawkVision
ROME, Ga. – 2009 was a special season for the Shorter University volleyball program.
The list of individual and team records set was extensive and included the mark for most wins when the team rolled up 27 victories.
Yet there was still one goal that the Lady Hawks were unable to reach in a year when they solidified their place as one of the top NAIA teams in the South. Shorter came up just short in its bid for a Southern States Athletic Conference championship and a national tournament berth, something it hasn’t accomplished since 2007.
As they tackle the 2010 campaign, the Lady Hawks have a league title and national berth in their sights as they hit the floor boasting a veteran lineup spearheaded by five determined seniors who started their Shorter careers tasting title glory and hope to close out their careers with the same result.
“Our season rides on how our seniors play this year,” Shorter fifth-year head coach Jon Moseley said about his seniors, a special group that served as his first recruiting class on the Hill. “It’s a very good, strong class.
“It’s amazing to me that I’m about to coach that class in their senior season,” he added. “They were an important class for us at that time when we didn’t have a strong volleyball reputation. They made an immediate impact. They helped us win the SSAC Tournament as freshmen and have taken us to the finals in the last two years.”
Shorter will be without three key players that were lost to graduation, including NAIA and AVCA All-American Kasi Runion, who was a four-time All-SSAC selection and departed as the program’s all-time leader in kills with 1,416.
Despite the losses, Shorter’s seniors – Ashley Walton, Katie Van Hofwegen, Ashlie Stewartson, Maggie Parker and Loni Beth Jones – enter their final season having gained a reputation of their own.
Walton, a 6-foot outside hitter from Atlanta, was named as an All-SSAC first team player last fall after she finished the season ranked third in the conference in hitting percentage (.271) and second on the team in kills behind Runion with 312. She also recorded 51 blocks.
While Walton will be part of a formidable front line at the net, Van Hofwegen returns as a key member of Shorter’s defensive scheme. The Californian defensive specialist picked up All-SSAC second team honors last year despite coping with an injury that sidelined her for several games in the middle of the season.
Van Hofwegen racked up a career-high 423 digs, a number that ranked fifth in the SSAC, and also earned SSAC All-Academic laurels.
Perhaps the best all-around female athlete ever at Shorter University – she is an eight-time NAIA All-American in indoor and outdoor track – Stewartson answers the call for the Lady Hawks as a potent middle blocker.
The 5-10 standout from Newnan compiled 229 kills last year and was second on the team with 89 blocks. She is excels in the classroom as well as on the court, having garnered SSAC All-Academic and NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors.
An NAIA Scholar-Athlete and SSAC All-Academic award winner as well last year, the 5-10 Parker is yet another offensive threat for Shorter. The outside hitter from Alabaster, Ala., scored 234 kills and 50 blocks in 2009.
Every good team boasts players whose role consists of making hustle plays and Loni Beth Jones of Huntsville, Ala., is back to assume that task for the Lady Hawks. Last year, the 4-11 defensive specialist continuously planted herself in front of opposing attacks to keep points alive, registering 256 digs.
“It would be a nice bookend to their careers to come in and go out with a championship,” Moseley said of his seniors.
Shorter’s five other returning spikers are equally committed to winning a title and represent the overall balance that leads to championships.
Meghan Weller of Marietta is the lone junior back for the team, eager to make her presence known as an outside hitter. The 5-11 Lady Hawk was also an SSAC All-Academic selection last fall.
Four sophomores complete the group of returning players, three of those having plenty of experience on the court – Loren Olive of Killen, Ala., Leslie Welch of LaFayette and Christina Johnson of Temple.
A 5-10 outside hitter, Olive made an impressive debut as a freshman last season when she was named to the All-SSAC second team after compiling an incredibly balanced stat line of 204 kills, 37 service aces, 230 digs and 44 blocks.
Welch stands ready to raise her game up a notch as the 5-11 middle blocker recorded 87 kills and 29 blocks a year ago. Johnson will be counted on to see more action after playing as a key reserve in 2009 as an outside hitter and setter.
The role of setter for the Lady Hawks, however, belongs to sophomore Jordan Corder of Hazel Green, Ala.
Corder burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2009 when she was selected as SSAC Setter of the Year in addition to being tabbed a first team All-SSAC performer.
By season’s end, Corder ranked third in the SSAC in total assists with 1,072 helpers and fourth in assists per set (8.2), played in a team-high 127 sets and led Shorter with 42 service aces. She was also a factor defensively for the Lady Hawks, ranking second on the team and 10th in the SSAC with 329 digs.
“She was a leader for us as a freshman, a natural leader,” Moseley said of Corder, who became the second straight Lady Hawk to be named the SSAC’s top setter. Kristy Walker took home the honor in 2008. “Everybody looks at her as being the one in charge just like a quarterback.”
Moseley is beaming with optimism thanks to the addition of a junior college transfer and four freshmen in 2010.
Junior Jessica Cooper of Grant, Ala., joins the Lady Hawks after playing the past two years at Snead State in Boaz, Ala. A 6-foot middle blocker, Cooper was named to the All-Region first team and was an Alabama Community College Conference All-Tournament pick despite not playing the sport in high school.
“She works hard, she has the athletic ability,” Moseley said of Cooper, who is a Presidential Scholar at Shorter. “Her lateral movement is outstanding.”
Starting their collegiate careers as freshman for the Lady Hawks are Meagan Cabrer of Jacksonville, Ala., and Kelsey Kirk of Dalton.
A setter who helped her Jacksonville High team to state titles 2007 and 2008 and a state runner-up finish last year, Cabrer is a two-time All-State first team, All-Area and All-Region pick. Kirk, a 5-10 outside hitter, prepped at Northwest Whitfield High where the lefty was an All-Region selection and picked to play in the Georgia-Tennessee All-Star Game.
Shorter’s future appears bright in the form of a pair of freshmen who will redshirt during the 2010 campaign: outside hitter Jasmine Crook of Ohatchee, Ala., a two-time All-State pick, and Jami Harvey of Cleveland, Tenn.
“We’ve done well recruiting the last two years,” said Moseley. “We now have a good reputation and more people know about our program and our school.”
Moseley realizes, however, that Shorter’s volleyball reputation is something that must be continually upgraded year after year. To do that, the Lady Hawks have to raise the bar.
“The No. 1 thing we want to do this year is to improve our offense,” Moseley said. “We really want to speed things up. We have the athletes in the hitter positions and the talent at the setter positions to do it. I feel like we will have the ball control to help our setters run a more dynamic offense.”
With assistant coaches Noel Carper and Adam Careaga returning to help direct the team, and the recently-graduated All-SSAC standout Jessica Cahill now assuming an assistant position, Moseley and the Lady Hawks’ staff will have their hands full bringing the team together for what figures to be an even bigger conference test this season.
Playing in the newly-formed SSAC East Division along with two-time defending champ Lee, Shorter will also square off against a rugged West Division lineup that includes the University of Mobile, a perennial national tourney participant, and a Spring Hill squad now under the direction of former Central Missouri head coach Peggy Martin, who is in the American Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame, has more than 1,000 victories in the NCAA Division II ranks and has had an amazing 30 straight 25-plus win seasons.
The top four teams from each division advance to the SSAC Tournament to be held in November in Gulfport, Miss.
As far as Moseley is concerned, the Lady Hawks have all the ingredients to be a threat as they prepare to start the season Aug. 27 in the Milligan Invitational, a prelude to their first SSAC match of the season at rival Lee on Sept. 1.
“This year we won’t have that one player a team feels they have to stop,” Moseley said. “Kasi Runion drew a lot of attention and we’ll miss her, but this year hopefully we’ll have five or six hitters who can spread the load.
“We’ve got the talent to have a great season. The whole lineup is talented and we can be successful if everybody does their part.”
