Volleyball Endures Challenges Ahead of Opener
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – They had hoped to start the season in Puerto Rico with a roster full of healthy players.
Things haven’t exactly gone, though, as the Miami Hurricanes volleyball team had hoped.
In recent weeks, the Hurricanes have had to deal with a rash of injuries that have taken a toll on the lineup head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara expected he and his staff would be working with this year forcing Miami to make some unexpected adjustments ahead of the season opener.
And of late, the uncertainty created by the path of Hurricane Dorian had the Hurricanes wondering if they’d even have the opportunity to play their opening matches in the Puerto Rico Clasico, a weekend tournament that also featured teams from Missouri and George Mason.
All of that has presented a set of challenges Gandara and his team didn’t expect. But after an offseason during which they prioritized creating physical and mental toughness, the Hurricanes feel ready to move forward when they open their season Friday night against Missouri not in the Caribbean, but on Miami’s home floor at the Knight Complex in Coral Gables.
“The players are good at learning how to learn. They’re learning how to make changes in their games and they’re focused on their own development. They’re able to manage things they’re not able to control and I think this is a good example,” Gandara said. “They care for each other, they are supportive of each other and the kids that are injured have a place on our team. They’re very involved … They’re handling things very well. Now, we’re super excited to get the season started. We’ve been waiting for this day for a while.”
Added junior middle blocker Cameron Dobbs, “In terms of the injuries and everything else that’s happened, we actually started having cultural meetings in the spring where we wanted to define the culture of Miami volleyball a little bit more. And one of the values we have as the Miami Hurricanes volleyball team is that we value toughness. So, every time something has popped up this season – whether it’s been another injury or schedule changes, anything you can imagine – we’ve always said ‘This is a good opportunity to be tough. It’s a good chance to be good anyway.’ So, I think as these challenges have come, it’s actually strengthened us as a team, to make sure we’ve made change in our culture and be even stronger.”
The Hurricanes, who posted a 13-12 record last season, will have their first on-court opportunity to test their new resolve when they open the year with an opening match against a Missouri team that went 24-8 last season and made an NCAA Tournament appearance.
While Miami will be without first-team All-ACC setter Haley Templeton, who graduated after finishing third in school history with 4,632 career assists and is dealing with injuries to defensive specialists Sara Duque and Amanda Falck, outside hitters Angela Grieve and Taylor Burrell and setter Savannah Vach, the Hurricanes return second-team All-ACC selection Elizaveta Lukianova, who had a team-high 304 kills last season.
Also back is senior middle blocker Bridget Wallenberger, who last season averaged 2.03 kills set and middle blocker Madison Dill, who missed last season but totaled 94 kills as a sophomore in 2017.
Several new additions to the roster are expected to make an impact, including outside hitter Janet Kalaniuvalu, who joined the Hurricanes this offseason after two years at Southern Utah. Last season, she earned second-team Big Sky All-Conference honors after totaling 451 kills and tied SUU’s single-game all-time kills record with 30 in a match against Northern Colorado.
Meanwhile, freshman outside hitter Kennedy Prince – a three-time Texas Association Volleyball Coaches All-Star Team member and two-time Greater Houston Volleyball Coaches Association All-Area Offensive Player of the Year – has already shown, according to Gandara, the ability to be a “dominant” player for the Hurricanes this season.
The injury-depleted Hurricanes may be young and some players may have had to learn new positions to help Miami adjust, but Gandara is confident the Hurricanes can continue growing and still put together and impressive season.
“We have some young players that we need to be a big part of the team and we’ve seen them respond as expected in training camp,” Gandara said. “These are kids we recruited for two, three years. We know them, they’re familiar with our system, they’re familiar with our staff and they were comfortable. … As we’ve anticipated, the transition has been pretty smooth and they’ve been able to adapt to the demands on the court. We’re limited as far as options because of the injuries, but we haven’t had many surprises because we’ve had high expectations [for the younger players]. We feel like we’ve answered the questions we had coming in. We have a solid group of veterans and upperclassmen that did a good job in the spring and over the summer and in that regard, I’m excited to see them become aware of everything they’ve learned, to become aware of their abilities.”
