Coaches Corner for August 14th: Danielle Lopez, DMACC Volleyball

With us on coaches corner KWBG gonna talk some DMACC volleyball today. Danielle Lopez joining us as the Bears got the girls moved in a couple of weeks ago and kind of that preseason camp where, oh, you don't, I mean, you don't really have to worry about school per se, granted you're on your own, but you don't have to worry about classes yet. Maybe I'll put it that way, Danielle. So tell me about getting the girls moved in and the way we go with practices. Yeah, you know, we got onto campus a couple of weeks ago, the girls got here about a week earlier, then we started preseason, we had our Nike camp and they were able to help out with that. And that was really nice for them to have a week of bonding earlier and get moved in and kind of activated with each other. And then, you know, start practices right away and super excited with the team we have and, you know, getting the freshmen going and use to our tempo and our culture. And, you know, the sophomores have really stepped up and really helped take them under their wing. And yeah, we're really excited with where we're at right now. All right, Danielle. Sometimes my math is not fantastic, so help me out if I'm wrong on this one, but are we really sitting at eight freshmen and eight sophomores? Did I count that up right? Yeah, we are. It's the first time we've had an even split. So that's actually really exciting too. All right, so let's start with the sophomores that are returning from last year. I know you just kind of mentioned leadership and stepping up, but tell me some names that are coming back from last year and just kind of what you have expectation-wise for them now being in year two. Yeah, so some of our, you know, big sophomores that are really stepping up and coming back are, you know, Ramsey Johnson, who was our setter right side, you know, who really led the conference and it was a big name for us. And then, you know, one of our outsides, Brooklyn Lifethub, she's improved a lot over the spring and increased her vertical, so she'll definitely be somebody to watch out for in the conference as well. You know, one of our DS Liberos, Indy Johnson, she's really making a run for that libero position for us as well. And then, you know, we've got some really great contenders for DS, it's Kylie Turks as well. And some middles coming back too, with, you know, Avery and Ali. And then another great setter stage coming back. And then one of our other outsides, our six row cat, Buchanan.

Yes, we've got some really good names coming back that we're excited about. Coach, obviously a Region 11 B finalist from a season ago, 25 and 14. I thought really was starting to play some nice volleyball by the end of the season. Which you're supposed to, you're not supposed to peak in August and September, you know, we want you to play your best volleyball at the end of the year. So this sophomore class obviously was a big part of that. Have they talked about that 11, you know, that Region 11 B championship from last year? They have, yes, yes. They, you know, they've got the chip on their shoulder. They really wanted to, you know, have that game back and they really, you know, want to really, you know, make up for that this year. And, you know, we were really close to nationals and really thought we also had, you know, that at large opportunity. And, you know, we, you know, hearing that we were kind of 21 out of 20 and just missed out on that, that fourth at large spot, that really was a dagger as well. But that also put another chip on our shoulder as well. So, you know, we have a lot to fight for and we're really excited to kind of show everyone what we, what was about this year. I thought it was kind of interesting because I always think Danielle, you do such a nice job recruiting in the state of Iowa. There's so many names that I see on the roster that I remember hearing, you know, at state or that I remember hearing of. But you're also not afraid to go out of state too and go get some. And it kind of looks like that was the way you did this year. We're still obviously Iowa heavy, but I also see, you know, Texas, I see Tennessee in here for some freshmen. You really kind of went around the, around the country to look for, for somebody to, to fit DMACC, didn't you? We did, yes. You know, we love our, our Iowa girls, obviously. But, you know, we do look for, you know, whoever's going to fit into our culture and who's going to help us get to that next level. And, you know, we were able to find some girls, you know, kind of around the country. And that's really going to, I think, help us get to that, that national tournament this year. All right. So early on, freshmen, sophomores mixing together. Danielle, give me a couple of positives you're seeing about these two groups moving together to be one. Yeah. They're really pushing each other. It's very competitive in our gym. And not only is it competitive, but they're understanding the healthy balance between, you know, healthy competitiveness, but also wanting the best for each other too. And we had, you know, long discussion about what that means and the positiveness of our team culture and making sure it's a family-like environment. And, you know, once somebody gets an opportunity, we're supporting them and, you know, making sure that we're looking out for each other. And so everyone's really bought into that and which makes practices, like I said, a great environment and super competitive and, you know, really going to push us for the season. All right. So obviously expectations, I think, I feel like I could just roll these out for you, Danielle. I think I know kind of where you're going to go with that, but obviously you guys have had to talk about goals and some things you want for this season. Where do the girls think that this group can go? Yeah, well, they have a lot. I mean, last year we had a great year, which, you know, we were ranked in the top 20 every week, even with the pre-season ranking. So that was one of their goals that they wanted as well for this year. They really want to, you know, win conference and they want to make a deep run into post-season and nationals as well. So they understand the hard work that has to go into getting there. And they know that we're always just right at the edge there every year since 2023, last time we were at nationals. So they really want to, you know, push just past that to get us there. All right. So you got scrimmages today with the ICCAC scrimmages, NIAC and Ellsworth, I know, we'll get a chance to see them up in Mason City. Danielle, I always feel like going scrimmages, we're kind of worried about ourselves. I know we like to maybe a little bit of advanced scouting, but we're kind of worried about what D-Max is going to do today. So give me a couple of things. What do you need to see from the ladies up in Mason City? Yes, definitely. This is obviously huge for us this day, because as you know, we've just been playing against ourselves for the last couple of weeks. So seeing as an opponent and we'll be able to see kind of, for us, we really want to see how our block is doing. And then we're really, we're really happy with how our defense, our backward defense is right now, but we want to see kind of how our, like I said, our block is, and then also really how our offense is going as well and those connections with our setter and our hitters too. And just how that's going against an opposing defense as well. I'm guessing different combinations you'll be looking at today too, won't you? Definitely, yes. Danielle, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck in Mason City and out in Illinois coming up next weekend. Thank you so much. You bet. Daniel Lopez again joining us. D-Mac Volleyball here on Coaches Corner.