Ben Dines '15
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Junior Lacey Maas (LM) talked to Santa Clara Broncos (SCB) about her offseason and what's coming up this year. The Broncos open up at home this weekend with Penn at 7 pm on Fri., Sept. 12 and No. 20 Duke on Sat., Sept. 13 at 11 am.
SCB: How did you stay in volleyball shape this summer?
LM: I actually was around volleyball almost my entire summer. I worked all the SCU volleyball camps so it was nice to be around the gym and get extra reps. I also coached a sand volleyball club with Sarah Vaccaro (who is on our sand team). We would always play after practice, so I stayed on top of my sand game as well.
SCB: What did you do for fun over summer?
LM: Working all the volleyball camps and coaching the sand club took up almost all of my summer, but the 10 days right before we had to report for double days I went to Hawaii with my family. I saw it as a "paradise before preseason." There actually was a hurricane headed right towards where I was staying the day I left that and there were some rumors that flights would be cancelled out of Hawaii, meaning I'd miss the report day for preseason. Luckily those rumors were false because I did not want to have to make that call to my coach telling him I was missing the beginning of double days because I was "stuck" in Hawaii!
SCB: You're an upperclassman this year at SCU. How has that changed your role on the volleyball team?
LM: I believe that because there are only five upperclassmen (three seniors and two juniors), which is less than one half of our freshmen and sophomores combined, there is a bigger leadership role that's been placed upon each of us. This program has changed so much since my freshman year in a positive way. I aspire to keep leading our team in that direction and towards our goal of becoming a WCC championship team.
SCB: The team lost some key players this past year at the middle blocker position. How are you stepping up to keep the middle locked down this season?
LM: I feel very lucky that I was able to experience two years with Megan Anders and Haley Cameron. I learned so much from them that I still use in my game today, so I want to be able to have that same effect on our other younger middles. Kaity Edwards and Natasha Calkins have a lot of talent and I think together we can keep the trend of strong middles going at SCU.
SCB: What have you learned about yourself in the past two years on the Mission Campus?
LM: If there is any time to go outside of your comfort zone, it's now. Coming to college and being on the volleyball team was so intimidating for me at first because it seemed like everyone had it all figured out. Which I've now realized totally wasn't true. So now I'm working on figuring it all out but making sure I have fun along the way trying new things and stepping out of my shell…embracing the person I want to be instead of holding myself back inside.
