Balsam Adds New Power to Serve

Sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Balsam had a chance to show her off her power serve at the alumni match last Saturday.

“It’s something I worked on all last year,” Balsam said. “I’m still working on it now.”

The serve proved effective at the match, giving the alumni a hard time of returning it.

“It’s still inconsistent, though,” Balsam said.

Head coach Lori Bennett knew Balsam had this type of serve, but now she is getting it under control.

“She’s always been very powerful,” Bennett said. “She’s our hardest hitter.”

The serve looks to be a major help to the Panthers this season, but Balsam is not sure how effective it will be.

“We won’t really know till we get on the court with someone else,” Balsam said.

Bennett is still positive that the serve will prove tough to opposing defenses this season.

“Her ability to place the ball will be a big factor in that, but taking that and consistency into consideration it will still be putting constant press on serve-receive,” Bennett said.

Freshmen Start Alumni Match

While every player that dressed saw playing time against the alumni Saturday, two freshmen saw more than just coming from the sideline.

Defensive specialist Shaina Boylan, in the role of libero, and outside hitter Amy Sesol were part of the starting team.

“It was fun to be out there playing against someone other then ourselves,” Boylan said.

With the freshmen starting last Saturday though, it made teammates push harder Monday to secure a starting spot, and the freshmen try harder to keep it.

“It depends on how they do in practice,” said Bennett about the freshmen challenging for starting jobs. “It’s set up to be competitive and earn points so our starting lineup could change on a regular basis.”

Jump Serve Used by Team

The team is using less standing serves now and has gone to jump serves, adding more power and speed to their serves.

” It’s more aggressive with jump serves,” Bennett said. “It puts continuous, constant pressure on the serve- receive.”

While many of the players are still trying to perfect this new serve, Bennett has a good outlook on how the change has gone.

“The transition has been pretty well,” Bennett said. “The returning players worked on it a bit in the spring and summer. A lot of the freshmen were jump serving anyway.”

The players are also looking forward to trying the serve out in the season.

“It’s more aggressive and I’m excited to try something new,” said junior setter Maren Crabtree.