With only a few games left in the regular season, the Lady Braves are sitting in first place and undefeated in conference play, setting records and getting votes in the national poll.
Coach Tom Symons said this year’s team is stronger across the board.
“I really like the fact that we are so balanced,” he said. “I don’t think we have one player that is always our ‘go to’ player. We also have depth in our bench, which allows us to do some things.”
Symons said the team is finally transferring into success. In the past, the team struggled to reach its potential. This year is different.
“Now we broke through and realized what we can do,” Symons said. “It is a huge jump for us.”
Senior Kristen Hendrickson said teamwork is a key element for the success of the team.
“We have our team chemistry and also we have more people willing to put in the hard work that we have been doing during spring season,” Hendrickson said. “That has helped a lot.”
Senior Nicole Gingery said the extra work has contributed to its success.
“We are practicing really hard. We have not had a day off. On Sundays we still do weights, we run,” Gingery said. “We are not taking it easy.”
The team has seen a good amount of success this season, but the Lady Braves are not satisfied.
“We are happy with what we have done so far, but what we have done is not enough,” Symons said. “Our goal coming to this season is to win conference.”
Gingery and Hendrickson said the team has more to improve on as the season comes to a close.
“We have to work on not allowing big teams to make long runs,” Gingery said.
“We work on our blocking almost every day at practice,” Hendrickson said. “We are a smaller team. We do not have huge middle blockers. We have to work on our technique more than what other teams probably do.”
If the Lady Braves win the regular season title, they will host the conference tournament.
Gingery said a big moment for the team was beating Kansas Wesleyan at home.
“We had a bunch of people there supporting us. It was really fun,” she said.
Gingery said the team wants to take advantage of that same atmosphere in the playoffs.
“Our plan is to win conference, so we can host the tournament,” she said. “It would be a huge advantage.”