University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Volleyball Prepares For 2007 Season
August 16, 2007 | Volleyball
ATHENS, Ga. --- The University of Georgia volleyball squad concluded the final pre-season camp practice before the start of classes on Wednesday evening with a two and a half hour scrimmage at the Ramsey Student Center.
Head coach Joel McCartney, who is starting his first season at Georgia, led the team through a series of 15 practice sessions including three scrimmages over a nine-day period leading up to the start of the fall semester at UGA on Thursday, which the team will have off to get acclimated to their classes.
"Early on in the pre-season camp we were focused on refreshing the systems implemented over the spring season and allowing the new athletes to get up to speed with the skill training," McCartney said. "We've had a chance to scrimmage three times over the 15 or so training sessions and each time out we've looked a little more refined. I am really pleased with the energy and the kind of shape we're in. The ability to train longer sessions and accomplish more is due to the overall fitness of this group. I credit Coach (Mike) Schweigert and the Bulldog returners for doing a great job over the summer months."
The preseason camp will resume on Friday and will feature eight additional practices leading up to the Bulldogs' first match against Stetson on Friday, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m. in Statesboro as a part of the Georgia Southern Tournament. The volleyball team will also take part in Georgia Fans' Picture Day on Saturday, Aug. 18 at Sanford Stadium.
"We are close to knowing who will be on our court and how will line up, but there are a few holes and the remainder of our pre-season will help us decide how to fill those," McCartney added. "We are ball controlling better and getting stronger terminations as a result, but we need work at the net and in our back court defensively if we are going to compete at a higher level. The remainder of the camp will focus on building the systems of the starting group and evaluating the depth of our roster for the remaining roles."
Georgia will face off in two matches on Aug. 25 to wrap up the Georgia Southern Tournament. The Dogs next make a stop in Macon to face Mercer on Aug. 29 before going to Jacksonville, Fla., to face Jacksonville University on Aug. 30 and Presbyterian College on Aug. 31 to complete the longest stretch of road matches on the schedule.
Next, the Bulldogs open up their home schedule on Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. against USC Upstate before traveling to Atlanta to compete in two matches in the Georgia Tech Classic on Sept. 7. Georgia returns home on Sept. 11 to take on Wofford, its final match before Southeastern Conference play begins. The conference slate opens with matches at Florida and South Carolina. Georgia, voted to finish fourth in the SEC East by the leagues coaches, will then move into the longest home stand of the year with five matches in the Ramsey Student Center. SEC play continues through the middle of November with Georgia hosting each league opponent once while also traveling to face each school.
"Our schedule should allow us some competitive opportunities to get prepared for the most important SEC matches," McCartney said. "Every match on our pre-season schedule will allow us to learn more about our areas of strength and likewise our deficiencies. The focus for our program is to gain confidence with every outing so we can carry it forward to the next opportunity. If we do a nice job with that focus, we have a shot at competing well by the time the SEC schedule comes."
McCartney, who became the fifth head coach in school history, came to Georgia from Winthrop University in December of 2006. He holds a winning percentage of .738 (282-100) as a head coach, a mark that ranks 15th among active NCAA Division I women's volleyball coaches. At Winthrop, he guided the Eagles to a record of 167-49 in six years, including a 34-2 campaign in 2006, winning a fifth straight Big South Conference Championship and making a fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
A total of 10 letterwinners return from the 2006 squad including four starters led by junior outside hitter Maria Taylor and senior defensive specialist/libero Brooke Burlingame.
Taylor finished the 2006 season with ten double-doubles and was second in the SEC with an average of 4.52 kills per game.
"Maria is a phenomenal athlete, but the most impressive element to her character so far in the pre-season camp is her ability to learn and take the game to a higher level with that learning," McCartney said. "Not all naturally gifted athletes are willing to go down that road, but so far she has given a great effort and will certainly factor into a predominant role with our team this season. I would look for Maria to just keep getting better as she continues to learn this game. She can make much more of an impact as the season progresses if we can continue to build upon the confidence she is gaining with each new day."
Burlingame led the Bulldogs with 448 digs last season and her 4.27 digs per game average ranked sixth in the SEC. She enters the 2007 season with 1,145 career digs, which is just 90 digs away from breaking into the top five all-time leaders in school history.
Other returning members of the team include seniors Renee Johnson, Alexis Morgan and Chelsea Young, juniors Anjelica Partridge and Brooke Peugh, and sophomores Sam Lum and Katie Winschel and redshirt freshman Simone May.
Newcomers to the 2007 squad include junior transfer Mara Martin and freshmen Britta Buethe, Kelsey Burkett, Erika Clark, Lindsay Gehan and Valentina Gonzalez. Martin joins the Bulldogs from Michigan, where she tallied 1,282 career assists, which ranked eighth on the Wolverines' all-time list during her two seasons at the school.
"Our new athletes will definitely factor into the equation of our success this fall and each of the five has made us better by adding competition and depth to every position," McCartney said. "More than likely we will see some of the (new players to the program) on the floor as starters, but each one could earn some type of contributing role with our team for sure. I have been really impressed with the courage of this group to step into the program and compete immediately for significance. I think they will help in adding a new look to our game this season and I am starting to get excited to see what that might look like."
Also new to the Georgia program in 2007 is assistant coaches Chad Callihan and Jennifer Gandolph. Callihan joined the Bulldogs after serving as the head coach at Appalachian State University for four seasons. Gandolph, came to Georgia after working as an assistant at the University of New Orleans for one season.
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