On Thursday, April 29, the volleyball squad engaged in a scrimmage against former GNAC rival Western Washington. The team then headed to Langley, B.C., Friday morning, April 30, and held a practice, followed by a training session with the Trinity Western Spartans Friday night at the Langley Events Center.
A beach volleyball tournament was scheduled for Saturday, May 1, but rain forced officials to cancel the event, and the Redhawks trained with the Spartans again Saturday, including a scrimmage Saturday afternoon. The Seattle U coaching staff felt that the team came back from the experience refreshed and renewed.
"We are exactly midway through our spring training and this weekend gave us an outstanding opportunity to see what we have accomplished so far and in what areas we must continue to improve. One bright spot was our passing - this is the best our team has ever performed on serve receive. Our offensive system was brilliant when we ran it, now we need to continue to work to play faster so we can be on tempo more often," head coach Shannon Ellis said.
"Essentially, our main goal in Canada was to compete. It was a great chance to get out of our gym and into a new environment for a couple days to play against some good teams," Jordan Keller (Mukilteo, Wash.), sophomore middle hitter, said. "The most exciting part was being able to apply everything we've been working so hard at this spring. We had some glimpses of greatness, and also saw what we needed to work on. Overall, the progress we made this weekend was very promising. We have amazing potential to be a great team, and we are definitely heading in that direction."
"I thought this weekend we really progressed as a team by communicating very well. We came together after not playing that great against WWU and played a lot better and more together against TWU. It was great to see the potential we have and I am very excited for the fall," sophomore outside hitter Cristin Richards (Olympia, Wash.) said.
The Seattle University volleyball team continues its spring schedule with practices and a scrimmage against Seattle Pacific. The squad is scheduled to open the 2010 season on August 27 with matches against Eastern Washington and Cal Poly at the Connolly Center North Court. The full schedule will be released by the end of May.