University of Georgia Athletics
Dogs Trying To Build Momentum
August 29, 2016 | Volleyball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
It was a good weekend for two Georgia programs looking to build confidence and momentum early in the season. The women's soccer team earned a pair of wins at the Turner Soccer Complex, while the volleyball squad opened its season with three straight victories in the Benson Hospitality Invitational at the Ramsey Center.
Both the soccer and volleyball teams are coming off disappointing five-win seasons in 2015 and enjoying some early success, especially putting multiple wins together, is vitally important.
"I think it just pumps us up, honestly, and gives us confidence in ourselves and confidence in each other," said soccer senior Lauren Tanner, who scored Georgia's first goal in Sunday's 2-0 win over Cal State Fullerton.
The soccer program opened its season on Aug. 19, with a 1-1 draw at home against a strong Oklahoma State team. That was followed two days later with a 3-1 loss at Clemson, which last week was ranked No. 8 in the country in the coaches' poll.
Georgia then came home and beat Samford, 3-1, last Friday, followed by the shutout win over the Titans.
"Getting two wins kind of confirms the direction we're moving and allows us to build on some things confidently, and not second guess ourselves in some ways," second-year coach Billy Lesesne said. "I think it's certainly going to help us moving forward."
Moving forward means facing a lot of quality competition. The Bulldogs are playing in a tournament at Auburn this weekend, with games against Southern California and Iowa State. Then comes the start of SEC play, beginning with a Sept. 9 matchup at South Carolina. The SEC currently has four ranked teams, led by No. 6 Florida and No. 11 Texas A&M.
Georgia's best soccer win last season was a 2-1 upset of No. 4 A&M. It was the start of a solid finish to the Dogs' regular season, along with a 1-0 win at No. 16 Auburn, going 4-4 in league play to claim a spot in the SEC tournament.
There will be plenty of tough games ahead, Tanner said, and establishing some momentum and confidence, and trust in one another, now should pay off down the road.
"I think the biggest thing this season is that trust in everyone," she said. "I think that's what carries teams over when times get tough, like later on the season. So if we find that now, then we'll hopefully find success toward the end of the season when it matters."
After going winless in the SEC last season, the volleyball team "reevaluated everything" in the offseason, coach Lizzy Stemke said. It was a spring and summer full of work on and off the court, for the players and coaches.
"We reevaluated everything and the beauty of that is this team was open and willing to do that," Stemke said. "You can evaluate and make changes, but if the team doesn't buy in, you're stuck. This group has had an incredible amount of trust and we have to build that confidence moving forward, based on the trust that we've all kind of jumped in with."
Georgia opened its season last Friday night with a 3-1 win over UNC Asheville. That was followed Saturday by a 3-0 win over Savannah State and a 3-1 victory over San Francisco. Junior Kendall Kazor said the three wins provided some positive reinforcement to start the season.
"It was so important," she said. "We've been working so hard in the spring and summer, harder than we've ever worked, and we could see it in the practice gym. But just to get that satisfaction and that check mark and 'W' this weekend, it was like, 'OK, it's paying off, what's our next step?'"
The next step is consistency and building on the strong start.
"This weekend was certainly supposed to be more than (just getting wins)," Stemke said. "We have a lot of depth and we got to see our depth in action. This team is really committed to this 'we' mentality and we're going to need different people on different nights, given every different circumstance that we're in. And we were able to kind of play with that a little bit this weekend."
Volleyball is headed up to Boston this weekend for the Beantown Challenge, with games against Boston College, Siena and Harvard.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
