The team is already talking about its trip to the Bronx on Sunday, Oct. 12, in which the New York shopping scene is calling the players’ names. But that will come second to continuing the team’s four-game undefeated streak in Atlantic 10 play.
“Fordham is a tough place to play,” head coach Anne Kordes said. “The kids are talking about purse shopping in New York City, and a team like Fordham can sneak up on you. We have to take it seriously.”
Before the team heads to the Big Apple, it will take on Rhode Island in an away game. Saint Louis University leads the Rams 5-1 all time, and R.I. dropped its first two matches in A-10.
Kordes is already scouting both teams by looking at tape from their previous matches.
“As coaches, we want to define what defense to run,” Kordes said. “Who gets the most sets and who to hit the ball to. We want to look at the team’s physicality, running our offense at smaller blockers and hitting away from some players.”
Once the coaches review film and everything is said and done at practice, the whole team meets to discuss upcoming matches.
“The coaches write up a little bit about the starters-their tendencies and ways to capitalize on their weaknesses,” freshman Casey Chernin said. “They show us how we can make the other team do something they’re not comfortable with.”
Knowledge on how to exploit the other team’s weaknesses comes a little bit at a time, though.
“We want to be prepared, but we don’t want to change too much or we might throw our own game plan off,” Kordes said. “We give the information about other teams at different stages-days before the match, before the match starts and even during timeouts.”
There comes a point at which all the preparation in the world can only mean so much until the team can execute that strategy. Kordes is confident that her team can use its experience to adjust when other teams throw a curve ball.
“We have so many upperclassmen, so when we’re thinking about adjusting, they’re already thinking it too,” Kordes said. “That’s the nice part about having an offense and defense that are anchored by experienced players.”
The coaches research, and the players execute. Junior setter Whitney Roth said the key to this weekend is mental composure.
“There are a lot of small things that matter in every match, and when we play our game on our side of the net, we can avoid making those small mistakes,” Roth said. “It’s little things like blocking and getting hitters in one-on-one situations; you have to be mentally tough.”
At 13-4 overall and 4-0 in A-10, SLU is off to its best start since the 1999 squad recorded wins in 15 of its first 17 matches.
“Every game is important at this point,” Chernin said. “It’s the difference between a ranking and just being so close to one.”
