With a team as young as Utah’s, getting everyone on the same page and up to speed with the game plan can be a struggle. The players need constant practice to get something ingrained in their memory and have it become second nature. The things they practice are more often than not the big ideas. The players need to learn how to serve, attack and pass proficiently enough to compete in the Pac-12.
This far into the season, it looks like the team has really improved in all of those areas. Head coach Beth Launiere is proud of the progress her team has made in these departments.
“We are doing the big things really well,” Launiere said. “We are serving, passing and getting kills.”
When a team reaches this point, it can move on to fine-tuning its game, and that is where the Utes are right now. They have all become comfortable with each other and with the system and can now focus on the little things.
In the end, it is the ability to perfect these little things that will determine whether or not this Ute team can become a Pac-12 contender in years to come. The Utes have the raw skill to succeed, especially in the likes of outside hitters Adora Anae and Eliza Katoa and middle blocker Berkeley Oblad, but they will need to polish off their game to succeed.
Anae knows just how much this matters.
“It’s the little things that we talk about,” Anae said. “Serve, receive passes. Our blocking has been all over the place. Taking care of the little things. The little things matter.”
After this weekend’s losses, Launiere focused in on how much these little things, or the lack thereof, mattered to the team.
“We weren’t doing the little things,” Launiere said. “We made a lot of mistakes on the little things. That’s what we talk about in the locker room — doing the little things. You gotta play the whole game. There is a lot that happens between touches that we have to do a better job at.”
Shughrou Injured by bicyclist
In the third set of the match against Arizona State over the weekend, Launiere made a lineup change. After a few matchups away from her natural position, Launiere placed Tess Sutton back at libero for the final set of the match. Freshman Megan Shughrou was relegated to the bench, and Caroline Sipiora came in for the majority of the set.
Shughrou hadn’t been playing her best throughout the night, and there was good reason for her struggles.
“Shug got hit by a bicycle on campus the other day,” Launiere said. “She got knocked down real good. She thought defensively she was struggling, so we gave Tess a shot.”
Colliding with a bicyclist on campus is definitely going to hamper a player’s ability to perform at her best. Shughrou is looking to heal up in time to get back into her rhythm before Utah’s trip to California.
Cygan moves into sixth place
Over the weekend Kendall Cygan, Utah’s senior setter, reached a milestone that will cap off her great career as a Ute. Just into the second set against Arizona, she recorded her 2,310th assist and passed Katie Gesto for sixth on Utah’s all time list.
“It feels really awesome to have accomplished that much over my four seasons,” Cygan said. “It feels great to finish my senior year somewhere making a name for myself.”
@Twelvegage96