BOONE, N.C. — At the stroke of midnight, the Appalachian State University volleyball team began the 2016 season with its fourth annual “Midnight Battle” intrasquad scrimmage on Friday evening/Saturday morning.
“I thought we looked good for day one with seven-and-a-half new people if you count Ashlyn Brown who joined us in January,” head coach Matt Ginipro said. “Just a bunch of young people playing really, really well. We just have to hone in on our tempo, but if that's the starting point for us, then preseason is going to be really good.”
“The Midnight Battle is just something fun and something different,” Ginipro continued. “In the first practice, especially when you have so many young kids, just getting them to compete the first time rather than worrying about training, training, training, and then doing it in our first opportunity, doing it at midnight, it's just something fun to do. It lightens the mood a little bit, especially when you have six freshmen who are probably nervous and are probably scared about some things. They can go, 'Oh wait, I can just play.'”
The season began by the group of 21 student-athletes and coaches circling up, hand in hand, and talking about the journey that is ahead of each of them. They then bowed their heads and listened to “The Pursuit” speech by Eddie Pinero that echoed through the Holmes Center.
Immediately following, play began with high energy from the first serve. In the first set, the junior outside hitter Tierney Flaherty dropped a furious kill to set the tone for the rest of the night. Other newcomers, Emma Longley, Kennedy Wilson, Amanda Krahl, Sydney Farthing, Taylor Ashcraft and Mikel Coleman relished in their first collegiate volleyball practice.
Newcomer transfer Ashlyn Brown also brought a high level of effort in her first time suiting up in the Black and Gold.
Not to be outdone, seniors Olivia Reed, and Kati Stammen led the way by helping with the tempo and constantly communicating, holding the Mountaineers steady on defense while making sure others were in their correct spots for plays on offense. Other returners Alana Shoff, Olivia Loeffler and Cassidy Stephenson battled hard as middle backs and liberos to elevate the effort even further.
Sophomores Jenna Talbert and Melissa McMath both worked the outside well getting several kills on the night, while junior Courtney Sullivan proved to be valuable guarding the zones and even getting into the attack game.
Seniors Ashton Gregory and Sloan Evans were unable to practice due to nagging preseason injuries. Despite being inactive, the two took time between games to meet with and coach their respective positions.
Appalachian has 20 days to prepare for its regular-season opener as the Mountaineers travel to Blacksburg, Va. for a tournament at Virginia Tech beginning on Friday, Aug. 26 against the Hokies. The Apps will also play Norfolk State and Siena over the course of the two-day event. The home opener for the Mountaineers comes on Friday, Sept. 2 as Appalachian hosts UNCW, Wofford and Ohio in the Black and Gold Invitational.
