Before last season, U volleyball head coach Beth Launiere looked at the upcoming year as a chance for the Utes to develop as a team.
It seems that they developed pretty well. And pretty fast.
Launiere’s team pieced together a 23-9 record on its way to a Mountain West Conference Tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament bid. The Utes disposed of Loyola-Marymount in the first round before losing a heartbreaker in the second round to the No. 6-ranked Arizona Wildcats, narrowly missing a trip to the Sweet 16.
And how sweet it would have been, considering coach Launiere was regularly starting four freshmen the majority of games, and her star libero Connie Dangerfield (2004 Mountain West Conference Libero of the Year) had to sit out the entire year with a torn rotator cuff.
This year promises even more.
Nearly all of the players who developed together last season are coming back, and they’ve devoted themselves to rigorous off-season workouts.
“This team has worked harder than any team I’ve ever had in the off-season. Not even close,” Launiere said, “This group is committed. They inspire me to do the best job I can do.”
Dangerfield concurs with her coach: “We have been playing and working out a lot more than we did last spring.”
Along with a meticulous off-season workout regime, many of the players are staying on their game during the summer by competing overseas. Six players from the Ute volleyball team traveled to Slovenia on July 21 to play in the Global Challenge. Dangerfield, Emillie Toone, Airial Salvo, Kathryn Lovell, Lori Baird and Sydney Anderson all competed for a USA Intermountain regional group. The Global Challenge runs through Aug. 1 and includes teams from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Shannon Krug was also selected to play overseas for the USA Select “All-Frosh” team. Her team played the Argentina national and junior national teams, just to name a few.
All of this off-season competition should help prepare the team for a season without star outside hitter Shelly Sommerfeldt, who was the only senior on last year’s team. Coach Launiere laments the loss, but is optimistic about the future.
“It’s always hard to replace an all-conference player like Shelly, but when you only have to replace one player, it makes it easier,” says Launiere.
Hoping to help fill the void, Launiere has brought in two freshmen and a junior-college transfer. Launiere received a commitment from 6-foot setter Sydney Anderson of Alta High School, who was tabbed as one of the top setters in the nation. Stephanie Hodgman, a defensive specialist who hails from Los Gatos, Calif., was selected first-team All-West Bay last year as a senior. Last but not least, Western Wyoming Community College transfer Hilary Taylor hopes to strengthen the already solid core of outside hitters for the Utes this year.
Despite being a relatively young team, the Utes have the experience and talent to make a run for the Mountain West Conference championship. Fellow contenders BYU and Colorado State have a lot of talent returning under good coaching staffs as well, while UNLV is returning five starters from a team that finished fourth in the conference last year.
Despite such stiff competition, Dangerfield thinks she and her fellow teammates can compete with everyone in the conference.
“I think the U has a chance to be one of the best teams in the league,” she said.
Emillie Toone agrees with her teammate, but also thinks the Utes can compete on the national level. “I think it will be between us and BYU in our conference, and we’ll probably be ranked in the Top 25.”
The Utes will need to have their game faces on this year as they face a murderer’s row of sorts in the season’s opening weeks. The team will have three tournaments in three weeks, including matches against Florida, USC, North Carolina, Temple and Missouri State.
“Florida will be the toughest team we play-definitely the most athletic, most physical?and they’ll be ranked in the Top 5,” Launiere said. The Utes will face Florida in the Aquafina Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., on Aug. 26.
North Carolina and USC will most likely carry Top 25 rankings into the season as well. The Utes will face both teams at the USC tournament Sept. 1-3.
As mentioned before, the U squared off against another Top 10 team last year in Arizona. Utah battled with the Wildcats the entire game, but could not muster enough to get the victory. Final score: Arizona 3, Utah 1.
“We were a little bit tight at the start of the match, but later on we realized we could play with them. I think that gave the girls a lot of confidence heading into the off-season,” Launiere said.
The Utes return experienced youth, a now healthy libero and plenty of off-season work, but their most important asset might not even be between the lines. The team has been blessed with an extremely talented volleyball coach over the past 15 years who has been arguably the primary reason for the team’s year-to-year consistency. Coach Launiere has led the team to 10 straight 20-win seasons and has reached the NCAA tournament the last eight years. She also won the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year Award in 2004.
Last season looked like a reach for Launiere and Co., but instead of regrouping, the Utes reloaded. Launiere pieced it together last season and her team has renewed vigor-just what the Utes need as they try to make another run to the NCAAs in 2006.
Jamison Brogdon
Jamison Brogdon