What began as a season the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team planned to repeat as conference champions has morphed into a season where head coach Brian Gimmillaro must teach 14 new players to work together.
The 49ers were Big West champs last season after going 16-0 in the conference. But for two of the teams top hitters, their season ended before it began due to injuries. Redshirt freshman Sherridan Atkinson and sophomore Anete Brinke have been sidelined with an ankle and a shoulder injury, respectively.
“I would say before the season started I think we could have been the surprise team in the country and now we’re going to have to surprise ourselves,” Gimmillaro said.
LBSU was chosen to finish second in the league, after Hawaii, in the coaches’ poll released earlier this month. Gimillaro said that Hawaii deserves to be chosen first since they have many returners from last year.
Despite the adversity, Hudson has kept her spirits high for this season and is prepared to lead her team to another Big West championship and the NCAA tournament. The 2014 Big West Player of the Year averaged 10.2 assists per set and ranked second on the team in digs with 316 last season.
Hudson said that the team has great potential and talent, but it’s all about putting everything together and working towards the goals they set for themselves.
“I wouldn’t compare the teams because they’re different a lot of different roles and different sets of players,” Hudson said. “We have a lot of new players, some are fresh onto college and some are new to the program. [This season will] be more about us than worrying about the other team.”
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The 49ers are looking for a group of freshmen, transfer athletes and only three seasoned players to lead the team to a second consecutive Big West title. LBSU welcomes junior hitter Nele Barber from Marquette and senior middle blocker Hayley Benson from Ball State to help the team rebuild this season.
“We are good, but we are asking some people to go beyond what you would ask a freshman to do,” Gimillaro said. “They didn’t see themselves being on the court this year and now they are.”
The 2014 Big West Freshman of the Year Ashley Murray led the 49ers in blocking averaging with 1.21 blocks per set and hit .342 percent on the season. Murray kept up the positivity saying that the new faces are capable of lifting the team to a great season.
“I think we so far have a lot to do to get where we were last year and it’s looking like we can do better,” Murray said. “We have a lot of people that are looking like they can potentially be some surprises.”
Instead of looking ahead to the end of the season, Gimillaro is keeping his teams focused on the present in order to improve their development. He said they have come a long way over the summer in terms of getting used to being on the court together.
“Right now just trying to teach them how to focus and make them more skilled everyday and better teamwork everyday,” Gimillaro said. “Because of the youth and because of people being in positions they weren’t planned I’m trying to create small focuses.”
The new look 49ers face their first obstacle, Alabama, on Friday at the Walter Pyramid at 7 p.m.