Imagine a conference where being ranked in the top 25 nationally for a sport means you’re predicted to come in 10th place in the conference, according to the preseason coaches poll.
Well, that conference exists and it’s called the Pac-12. Despite being ranked 23rd in the AVCA poll prior to the start of their season, the Utah volleyball team faces long odds to win the Pac-12 conference. The conference features power houses such as No. 2 Stanford, No. 10 Washington, No. 16 Arizona State, and No. 20 UCLA.
The Utes know it won’t come easy, but they have the players and mindset to overcome the obstacles presented in their 2015-16 Pac-12 campaign.
The team consists of players like 2014 Pac-12 All-Freshman Adora Anae, Utah’s first-ever Pac-12 Freshman of the Week recipient Eliza Katoa, and senior Kendall Cygan, who in 2014 entered the top 10 list in career assists in Utah history.
The players know that they have a long road ahead but they have been focused on improving upon last year’s season, in which they finished ranked No.18 in the AVCA Poll.
The Pac-12 is a fast-paced conference so many young players are expected to produce immediately in big roles, and the young players are expected to adapt quickly after arriving to the Pac-12. Utah’s team is a young one with upcoming freshmen and sophomores leading the way, but the team still has the leadership of Cygan.
“It’s a good position to be in, but [I’m] definitely a mentor,” Cygan said in regards to taking on a leadership role in her senior season.
Utah also has a unified vision, and that means that leadership doesn’t just have to come from one player but it can come from the team as a whole.
“We’re definitely a young team, and we’re all trying to look up to each other, but I don’t think there’s one particular player. I think everybody steps up.” Kate Holdeman, director of operations for the team, said on the team’s chemistry and the source of leadership within the team.
It also helps Utah that certain key players have a year under their belts in the conference. On how she can get even better after a freshman season in which she won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors, Katoa stated, “Just the experience of one year playing in the Pac-12 has really taught me a lot and made me an even better technical player and I think that I have even more potential.”
One of the elements that makes the Pac-12 such a difficult conference is the talent from roster to roster that seems to surpass the talent in other conferences. Cygan and company recognize that the Pac-12 is a special conference in terms of talent level, and they are prepared for the battles coming their way.
“[In terms of] the competition, you have the best of the best playing in the Pac-12, and maybe the best that are going on to play nationally afterwards and just all around every team you go to play,” Cygan said. “It’s a fight every night. In some conferences you have strong teams and weak teams. But, in the Pac-12, there’s no day off.”
Katoa echoed her teammates sentiments.
“There’s no team in the Pac-12 that is easy,” she said. “Every week there’s a fight for a win, there’s no easy win.”
A challenge that is unique to the Utes is that they have only been in the Pac-12 for the last four seasons, and it has been a process. However, going into the season the team feels that the program has turned a corner both within the conference, as well as nationally.
“We entered the Pac-12 four years ago and so I guess entering the Pac-12, we were the underdogs and were never really expected to be a part of the competition,” Cygan said. “But past years coming along, and definitely after last year, we’re starting to make a name for ourselves. We’re starting to become more recognized by outside conferences, which is awesome.”
The team faces weekly challenges on the court, and the players face both personal and team challenges off of it. However, the program, as well as the mentality of the roster, allows the players to thrive.
“Personally, [a new challenge this year is] mentoring the younger players, because it’s more about focusing on the them to try to make them better and to become a high level Pac-12 team,” Cygan said. “As a team, I would say our practices are just driven towards a specific goal, the vision that we have. Of course they are going to be challenging, but each day that’s what makes us better.”
The Pac-12 is arguably the hardest conference in the country to play volleyball in, and the Utes are a serious contender with the necessary pieces to make a run on their conquest to receive even more national attention. The mentality of both the young and more experienced players seems to be meeting in the middle, which should lead to a strong and triumphant campaign for Utah.
@juanderful887