The Cal women’s volleyball team is experiencing something new and exciting: the prospect of being the underdogs.
Coming off of a losing season, the Bears hope to turn things around with the start of their season in the 2013 Cal Molten Classic held at the HAAS Pavilion starting this Friday. The Bears kick off the season facing the University of Nevada on Friday at 7 pm in HAAS Pavilion. The Wolf Pack, picked 11th in the Mountain West this season, also play the first game of their season in the Cal Molten Classic this weekend.
No one is expecting the Bears to make a deep run in the NCAAs this season because of last year’s 15-16 record, the first losing season since 2001. However, starting this season as underdogs is not necessarily a bad thing, especially with the young squad head Coach Rich Feller has to work with.
“We’re kind of a dark horse. We’re ranked 7th in the Pac 12 which I don’t think is a wrong ranking, we had a losing season last year,” said senior Adrienne Gehan. “But I don’t think that’s where we’re going to finish.”
Gehan is one of two seniors on the team and the only one present during the successful 2010 run that ended with an overall 30-4 record and the program’s highest year-end rating at No. 2 in the AVCA final polls. But the lack of upperclassmen is not a hindrance on the team; in fact, it is the opposite.
“I think that we’re kind of underrated probably, because we’re so young,” said freshman Maddy Kerr. “But at the same time, it’s an advantage because we’re going to be learning so much more and everyone has much more potential to grow throughout the season.”
The Wolf Pack also only have two seniors on their squad, which could serve to level out the playing field against the young Cal squad. But the Bears aren’t worried about the lack of experience because the underclassmen are familiar with playtime. Due to a number of injuries last year, the younger players were forced to step up into leadership roles, making them more experienced with playing time than the average underclassmen.
With a lack of information on the Wolf Pack, the Bears are focusing on one aspect of their game they can control: passing. Feller believes that Cal’s passing game is the key for everything else to fall in place; aggressive serves and flexible passing leads to an advantage for the defense.
The Bears are starting this season against the Wolf Pack with one thing rooted in the back of their minds: Cal volleyball is making a comeback. The target on their back has shrunk, and the squad is perfectly fine with that.
“We can kind of fly under the radar and just play our game and focus on ourselves without having these super high expectations we feel that we have to beat,” said Gehan.
Because this is the first game of the season, Cal has almost no information on the University of Nevada squad and the team is ready to get the first game under their belt.
“I think for the team, they’re just anxious to show that we’re good and to show that we’re back to a high level of volleyball,” said Feller.