The Utah women’s volleyball team is looking to solidify its lineup and defense this weekend as they host the annual Ute Invitational.
Despite having played in six games already, the Utah starting lineup still isn’t set in stone. Head coach Beth Launiere plans to continue shuffling her team around until the final weekend before conference play begins.
Launiere anticipates that things will run similar to last weekend8212;where, at the New Mexico State tournament, almost every team member got some playing time.
“It is a work in progress, trying to figure out who fits where,” she said. “We’re going to continue trying different things this weekend.”
Launiere said she hasn’t entirely ruled out returning to the 6-2 offensive formation she ran last year, even though she prefers the 5-1 the team is playing now.
“We could still possibly go to a 6-2, which would give us a little better block,” Launiere said.
Even though the team is unsure who will be on the court at any given time, the players are still working on creating team chemistry.
“We still want to work on growing as a team and getting that team chemistry,” Emillie Toone said. “We want to figure out what we are made of.”
Lineup and team chemistry aside, as the Utes head into their third week of play, they are still very much focused on defense.
The team has been concentrating on defense all week in practice, an area it has struggled with since the season began.
“We’ve been working on a lot of floor defense,” Toone said. “Touching more balls and get more up has been a really big focus of ours.”
In addition to working on defense and team chemistry, the Utes have also spent the week preparing for the tough competition ahead of them this weekend.
The Utes will be hosting Utah State, Purdue and Saint Louis this weekend.
“We have watched all the game film and there will be a lot of good volleyball played this weekend,” Launiere said.
The Utes will face Utah State in their first match of the tournament tonight at 7 p.m.
“We’ve played Utah State before. We know them,” Launiere said. “It will just be a matter of us executing.”
On Saturday, Utah will square off against No. 15 Purdue and Saint Louis, which boosts Division-1 National Player of the Week Sammi McCloud.
“It is a great opportunity to have these good teams on our court,” Launiere said. “It also gives us the chance to play more teams before we start into conference.”
Lucas IsleyStephanie Shardlow and the other players are trying to create team chemistry as head coach Beth Launiere sets the starting roster before conference play.