Today marks the official start of the Panthers volleyball season as they travel to Dallas for the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Invitational.

Eastern will open its season with three other teams as well: McNeese State, Western Carolina and SMU.

The Panthers said they are not concerned or nervous for the opening of the season, even though last season they had a 3-13 Ohio Valley Conference record and 8-19 overall.

Coach Lori Bennett was not concerned with last year’s record; she said this team is different.

“It’s different with just how competitive they are,” she said. “They never back off. [They’re] more athletic and better volleyball players.”

Bennett said they are more excited than nervous.

“We’re not nervous,” she said. “We’re ready to play.”

Bennett said preseason was short, but it still felt long and the team is “ready to go out and compete.”

Bennett added her thoughts, though, if the team was feeling stressed about this tournament.

“Even if they were nervous, that won’t take their focus off being successful,” she said.

Sophomore libero Shaina Boylan said earlier in the week that she was excited to see the season approaching and to play different opponents other than themselves.

Bennett did say that they may not be nervous, but they are anxious.

“They’re all excited,” she said. “But I think it’s natural to be a bit anxious for the first weekend.”

She has a lot of confidence in her team as she said she thinks her team will get comfortable quickly.

Bennett said her only real concern was with her team’s immaturity. She said she was not referring to the players’ personalities, but in their experience. The team has 10 underclassmen this season and she feels that their inexperience on the court is something that may take time to adjust to.

“I don’t think they yet have the understanding to know what it takes to win and the basics of the court,” Bennett said.

Senior Eliza Zwettler said she feels the team is ready for the season. According to Zwettler, being a young team is to their advantage because the teams have been so competitive during practice.

Bennett said she thinks all of the teams will give them good competition.

She did concentrate on SMU in particular.

“We expect [SMU] to be a tough opponent,” she said. “We expect them to be bigger and more athletic.”

Bennett said though ball control would be a ‘huge necessity’ for the weekend in order to pull off wins.

Other strengths Bennett said she feels she has her returning starters to step in and run the team the way it is ran every day in practice.

SMU’s finished with a 17-15 last season while McNeese State finished 15-4 and Western Carolina finished 8-28.

The Panthers have hardly played any of their opponents for this weekend.

Eastern has never played SMU or Western Carolina and have lost to McNeese State in one meeting.

The tournament begins at 4:30 p.m. today with the first match against McNeese State then follow tomorrow against Western Carolina at 11 a.m. and SMU at 7 p.m.

Jessica Wheeler, a sophomore outside hitter, practices her serve during practice Wednesday afternoon in Lantz Arena. Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News

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