Athletics Hosts Academic Recognition Luncheon

The Wayne State University Department of Athletics honored the 124 Warrior student-athletes and cheerleaders who recorded at least a 3.50 grade-point average for the Fall 2009 term during its 10th annual Academic Recognition Luncheon held Thursday at Historic St. Andrew's on the WSU campus.
Seven Deans' Award winners were also recognized for having the highest cumulative grade-point average among all student-athletes in that particular college:

* College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Marlon Leone, Men's Tennis

* College of Education - Brady Cooper, Baseball

* School of Business Administration - Vince Bechard, Men's Cross Country

* School of Social Work - Jessica Condeni, Volleyball

* College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts - Meghan Luzod, Women's Tennis

* College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - Sharon Gill, Women's Tennis

* College of Engineering - Roberto Gomez, Men's Tennis

Spring Season Wrap Up

Last weekend, the Warriors participated in a spring tournament at Bowling Green State University.  In the first match, the Warriors took on the host Falcons, splitting the two sets 25-27 and 25-22.  It was an exciting, and spirited match.  In the second match, the opponent was the Bowling Green Alumni team, which had some really good players.  We played well in the first set, winning 25-21.  In set two, the line-up we put on the floor just didn't click, and we struggled to get anything going. 

After lunch, we played Wright State, a school I coached at many years ago.  We played well again in set one, winning 25-18.  We lost a little momentum in the middle of set two, but fought back, only to fall short 24-26.  That put us at 3-3 in pool play, and matched us up with Bowling Green again for the final match of the tournament.  We played hard, but it was obvious that we were starting to run out of gas.  We dropped both sets, but it was a great way to finish our spring season.

We were very happy with the our spring season, and are very excited about the 2010 fall season.  The schedule will be released by the end of April.  We look forward to seeing you at some matches this fall.

Go Warriors!

Spring Season Update

The Warriors took the court Friday and Saturday last weekend.  The weekend kicked off with an alumni match on Friday night.  We had 13 alumni in attendance, whose playing careers ranged from the early nineties to just last year.  We played 3 sets to 25, with our team winning two and the alumni taking the middle set.  It was a fun evening of volleyball, stories, and laughter.

We started our tournament on Saturday against Madonna, a rematch from the previous weekend.  We played better, leading the entire first set until the very end.  We came back the second set strong and finished them off easily for the split.  In our second match, we played Urbana, again earning the split.  In the afternoon, we took care of business against Rochester College and Hope College to finish the day with a 6-2 record.  The important thing for me was to see improvement over the previous weekend, which we did.  While winning and losing is always important, we used multiple line-ups and tried people in different positions.  We want to improve as much as possible individually during the spring, so that we can hit the ground running in the fall and focus on the team.

We finish our spring season this Saturday at Bowling Green, where we will face the host Falcons, Wright State, and a BGSU alumni team.  The tournament starts at 10 AM at BG's Anderson Arena.

Go Warriors!

Wayne State Spring Tournament

The Warriors are hosting a spring tournament this weekend on Saturday, April 10th.  We would love to see you at some of our matches.  Wayne State's schedule is:

	Court 1
9:00	Wayne State	vs	Madonna
11:00	Wayne State	vs	Urbana
1:30	Wayne State	vs	Rochester College
3:30	Wayne State	vs	Fire Up Dutch

Spring Tournament Recap

We played our first spring tournament on Saturday at Madonna University.  It was a small event, with only 4 teams, but I think that was good for our first spring competition.  All of our matches consisted of 2 sets to 25 points.  We started the day playing the University of Windsor.  We played pretty well and won both sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-11.  In the next match, we played Eastern Michigan.  The speed of the game was significantly different from the first match, and it took us a bit to adjust.  We had the 2nd set tied at 20-20, but couldn't keep pace.  In the final match, we played Madonna.  We played well the first set, leading most of the way, but we couldn't hold the lead late.  We will get another shot at Madonna this weekend in our home tournament.

For our first competition, I was pretty pleased.  We competed in all of our matches, and we played pretty good defense.  Our hitting and blocking need to improve, but some of that is to be expected.  We only have 2 outside hitters, one of which was our libero in the fall.  We have 3 middles, but one has missed a significant part of the spring due to injuries.  The other thing was, while this was our first competition, it was EMU and Madonna's third tournament of the spring.  I expect us to be much better this weekend in our home tournament.

Go Warriors!

Setting The Bar

When I first arrived at Wayne State, the volleyball program had had one winning season since 1998.  Needless to say, the expectations surrounding the program were not very high.  I believe everyone wants to win, but expecting to win is another story.  We have been working on those expectations every day since March 17, 2008.

At Wayne State, I've received a lot of help in setting the bar high for our program by other teams in the athletic department.  And it seems that the bar gets raised every day.  The women's swimming and diving team recently finished 2nd at the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row, while the men's swimming and diving team finished 3rd after finishing 2nd a year ago.  The softball team is currently ranked 5th nationally, while men's golf is ranked 23rd, and women's tennis has been ranked in the Top 50.

These programs have set the bar very high for not only the volleyball program at Wayne State, but the entire Warrior athletic program.  With success comes some pressure, but pressure is what makes competitive people rise to the occasion.  In today's society, where competition has been removed from many of the schools, and everyone gets a trophy just for showing up, we welcome the competition and the bar that has been set for us.  We know that competition is what makes us better, what pushes us outside our comfort zones and helps us grow as people, and prepares us for the lives that lie ahead of us.  Thank you Warriors!  We are working hard to return the favor.

Summer Camp Dates

Join us for volleyball camp this summer.  We will offer two camps again this year.

The Intermediate Camp runs from July 26-29th from 9 AM - Noon.  The purpose of this camp is to introduce aspiring volleyball players to the game. This camp will help players learn and improve the fundamental techniques of passing, serving, setting, and attacking.  It is for players entering grades 5-9.

The Advanced Camp runs from July 26-29th from 1 PM - 4 PM.  Designed for second year and older high school girls and players entering college, this camp offers instruction and training in the skills and techniques of passing, setting, attacking, serving and defense, as well as advanced team and tactical training.  This camp is for players entering grades 10-12.

Each camp is $100.  Campers receive a camp t-shirt.  Both camps are held at the Matthaei Building on the campus of Wayne State University.

To print a brochure, click here.