Bond Shymansky set lofty goals for the volleyball program from day on: raise banners in the Al McGuire Center alongside the banners of the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Step one of this process was completed last year, when the Golden Eagles played in their first NCAA Tournament in program history. They won their first game before losing to national runner-up Illinois in Champaign, Ill.
Now, after a third place finish in Big East play, the team has high expectations heading into the spring season. Marquette hosts a tournament on Saturday with matches scheduled against Loyola (Illinois), Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Volleyball teams across the country get a couple weeks in the spring to play in tournaments in their region. It is a rare opportunity that coaches get to transition players that sat on the bench last year in preparation for the upcoming season.
“We want to see all our returning starters play like they did last year,” Shymansky said of his expectations. “It’s a time to learn about the evolving players, and what changes they may provide for our system.”
Freshman right side Lindsey Gosh and sophomore right side Courtney Mrotek are expected to see a large increase in their playing time this season. With the graduation of All-Americans Ashley Beyer and Ciara Jones, there is a big hole at outside hitter. The duo combined for almost 60 percent of the team’s total attacks last season.
“What (Ashley) Beyer and Ciara (Jones) did really well was play with emotion,” sophomore defensive specialist Rachel Stier said. “Not having them here is like having an empty spot on the court.”
Luckily for the Golden Eagles, redshirt junior Holly Mertens will be back to help ease the transition. Mertens played her best volleyball at the end of the season. The Eau Claire, Wis., native was the lone Golden Eagle on the Big East Championship All-Tournament team.
Mertens played mostly right side last season but expects to get some time as an outside hitter in the spring season.
“I want to work on technique,” Mertens said. “Spring is a time to get better in all areas of your game because you have time to work on it.”
Last spring, Shymansky was consistently discussing serve-receive passing, but this spring he has his focus on a different defensive part of the game.
“We have been working a lot on swing blocking,” Shymansky said. “We have the size to do it. We need more training experience, more tactile experience in touching the ball at the net.”
Marquette ranked 10th in the Big East last season in blocking and had no players in the top 10 in the conference in blocks per set. Junior middle hitters Danielle Carlson, Kelsey Mattai and Carol Henney are 6-foot-1 or taller and will be called upon to become more dominant at the net.
Shymansky watched the men’s basketball team’s sendoff to the Sweet 16 in front of the Al McGuire Center on Tuesday. It may not be long before his volleyball team has a sendoff as one of the last teams playing.
