With one more tournament before the start of the Southland Conference play, the Colonels continue to concentrate on closing weak ends while keeping focus on improving their game.

The Flo Hayman Collegiate Cup is due to start this Friday and end Saturday morning. The Colonels will face Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston and Texas Christian University.

“We have a really good chance at beating two teams and I think we can come back and beat Houston,” Kayla Mashburn, outside hitter, said.

Having lost to the University of Houston in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic earlier this month, the Colonels have an advantage on what they need to improve in preparation for the match.

“We just need to get a load of reps in to break old habits and bring in better habits,” Kaci Eaton, outside hitter, said.

After the Tulane Volleyball Tournament last weekend, the team is focusing on fixing their service receives for the FHCC. Even though the Colonels have less serve reception errors this season, they are averaging the same amount of errors per set.

The Colonels lost two of the three games in the Tulane Volleyball Tournament. The Colonels won their match against North Carolina State University (3-1), but lost against Tulane and TCU (0-3). The Colonels efforts can be best summarized by the play Mashburn made during the Tulane match, when she climbed atop the scorer’s table to keep a ball in play.

“The teams we played this past weekend are top teams and the fact we were able to compete with them surely shows we are going in the right direction,” Tommy Harold, head coach, said.

This weekend Harold is looking to see what progress the team has achieved and the spark Kaci Eaton, outside hitter, will bring to the court after being out with injury. Despite fighting the injury bug this season, the Colonels have not seen an affect on their performance. Players have come to fill the spots, especially for the key players.

After struggling with service receives and chasing balls in the Tulane Volleyball Tournament, the Colonels are turning their focus to improving their reaction time.

“We have to shake off the last play and we have been able to come back and get the next play,” said Mashburn.
Harold plans to do the same as they have been doing, as there is a system in place that the team will keep trying to improve. The Colonels will play a tough defense and be aggressive with the net.

“TCU was a step up from Tulane. We came back not our best but surely stronger than we were against Tulane. I think that step up gave us the momentum to come back against Houston to start off strong,” said Eaton.

The players motivate and keep each other grounded from giving themselves a hard time when the scoreboard does not reflect their expectations.

“We don’t need any cheerleaders. Kayla is enough to keep us motivated because she is just that loud,” said Eaton.