Click here to watch the video! Happy Halloween from Bronco Volleyball!
The Bronco volleyball travels to the Northwest this weekend to play at Gonzaga on Thurs., Oct. 31 at 6 pm and then finished the trip at Portland on Sat., Nov. 2 at 1 pm.
"This trip is always tough," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "Both of these teams play very well at home and it's a tough travel trip especially taking it towards the end of October/ early November because there is a lot of cold weather and rain. It makes travel a little bit longer, but the girls had a great week of practice. Everyone has gotten better. Our girls are very feisty right now. They want to go up to Spokane and get a win and go over to Portland and get a win as well."
The Broncos are led by Megan Anders who is hitting .300 with 3.04 kpg. Hayley Cameron is second in hitting at .293 with 2.26 kpg. Nikki Hess (2.85 kpg) and Sabrina Clayton (2.82 kpg) continue to play well for the Broncos. Setter Alyssa Anderson leads the team with 10.08 apg and second with 2.65 dpg.
This week Broncos continued their long standing tradition of wearing their Halloween costumes for the start of a practice during Halloweek. "We started this tradition a long time ago, I think 15 years ago when I first got here," said Wallace. "We do a little training and exercise in costume and have a little fun with it. It's that time of the year where we can have kind of a loose practice – we had a lot of fun with it on Wednesday. For me it's just seeing the different costumes out there and for the team to have a few laughs. My favorites looking back are Kelly Sousa and Becky Biniek. One year they come in as puffed-up pumpkins and it was hilarious. They couldn't really do much because they were so big."
On a serious note, the Bronco coaching staff has worked to change things up a bit to help the team succeed. "We are going back to basics, developing our outside hitters in both Nikki Hess and Sabrina Clayton as well as giving refreshers to Taylor Milton. Those three girls had a great week attacking on the left."
The coaches have also been working with the team so they can be a little more explosive and dynamic during matches . "We want to get the competitiveness of the group to come out a little bit. Not 6 vs. 6 but more 4 on 4, 3 on 3. It has allowed some girls to really bond and connect and compete against each other. It has been fun to watch as well as for them to get after it a little more in practice."
Wallace believes the key to the team winning is going to be the hitting percentage. "We are trying hard to create opportunities to get kills and to manage our game well enough to prevent errors from happening," added Wallace. "Last week we won the serve and pass battle which is an important part in our game. We are doing some really good things in terms of serving and passing. It's really going to come down to our offense when we have to make some adjustments. We have to become a little bit tougher as individuals. We need to be more efficient, get more kills and cut down on our errors."
Wallace is pushing for the team to continue to work on their confidence on the court as a team and as individuals. "Our girls have realized that everybody needs to pick up their game and do their job a little bit better. The girls have been supporting each other and helping motivate each other too. It's been kind of fun knowing we need to be better than this. We want to get after it whether it's practice or games – working to pick each other up. Ultimately the girls are playing better. We just need to play together and be strong and that will help us win this weekend."
