Long after most all the Marquette players and coaches would shuffle off the court after practice last season, the chorale of the volleyball’s constant pummeling of the hardwood still echoed throughout the Al McGuire Center for all to hear.

Any passers-by curious enough to investigate the root of the raucous would have been treated to the sight of Natalie Ring working with assistant coach LJ Marx, serve-receiving ball-after-unrelenting-ball and hammering ball-after-unrelenting-ball.

For the pair, it was just another Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Really whenever they could find time amidst the ever-hectic collegiate volleyball schedule, they’d be out on the court together, conducting one-on-one lessons that dominated the lion’s share of Ring’s sophomore season, which she spent redshirting.

So there Ring was, alone in the gym, separate from the herd, barring one assistant in his first year with the program and a large basket of balls. She’d get peppered by serves. She’d get spattered with hits. She’d get drilled by spikes. Then the roles would switch, and she’d do the peppering and spattering and drilling. She’d hit over and around shovels and brooms that acted as blockers. She’d fine-tune her footwork. She’d perfect different types of hits. Hone in on hand contact. Improve consistent accuracy.

Ring would simulate any and all situations in a manner indicative of what she’d see and do in a real game — only without the uncontrollable nature of a real game. It was the pressure-lessened environment that allowed her to focus on the process without as much emphasis put on the results.

“I took a lot of pressure off of myself when I made the decision to redshirt,” Ring said. “And I knew that there wasn’t a pressure for me to perform, and that the year was dedicated for me to get better and for me to help the team get better.”

The one thing she’s never had a problem with was power — it’s unquestionably her bread and butter. But there’s a lot more to hitting than simply ripping missiles at your opponents as hard as possible. There’s a mental side to it as well, and knowing how to keep the other team on its toes with a diverse attacking selection, like open-hand tips and off-speed and roll shots, is just as important as lighting the cannon.

That’s what the Marquette coaches, and Ring herself, all emphasized when asked what she needed to work on the most, and a large part of why she chose to bank her sophomore year of eligibility.

“A big thing was just increasing my efficiency offensively and working in new shots,” Ring said.

“Just needed to fine tune a few things and develop some of the experience and range of when to be the powerful hitter and then develop some more shots and finesse within her game,” said Marx.

“We just got to find the right balance of conservative Natalie versus rip-it-at-all-costs Natalie,” head coach Ryan Theis said.

The expanded hitting arsenal has paid her game dividends.

It helped her lead Marquette for the first time with a tied-career-high nine kills in her most recent game against Providence. A performance which followed six kills and a season-high .500 hitting percentage against No. 1 Pitt, which followed six kills against No. 7 Wisconsin, which followed her first nine-kill display against Western Michigan, which followed three kills and a .300 hitting percentage against No. 3 Stanford, which followed a spring season that she finished as Marquette’s leading point-scorer. All of which has added up to an average of 1.75 kills per set and 35 total — both more than double what she had as a first-year — only a month into her third season with already 20 frames in eight (of a possible 11) matches under her belt.

“My decision-making improved,” Ring said. “What type of shots to hit when, and my understanding of the defense and how to pick them apart.”

More so, the newfound variety of hits are adding that extra component to a program with three-straight Big East regular season titles and two Sweet 16 appearances (2018 and 2022) to its name looking to make more history before its seven graduates leave and a rebuild begins.

“We’re obviously chasing a Big East title again,” she said, “and whatever I can do to help the team get there is what I’m going to do.”

Now don’t be mistaken, the work is far from over.

Ring’s progression down the path labeled “redshirt” may have come to its fruition in the spring, but her journey to a progenitive post-college playing career — Which Theis mentioned is a goal of hers — is still a ways away from reaching its conclusion.

So there, too, will remain Ring, and Marx, together in the Al, working.

“I’m fully prepared that Natalie and I will be putting some time in the gym again in the next couple of months to continue to improve,” Marx said.

Just like last year, only now you can drop the “R.”

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.