It was quite the noteworthy head coaching debut last season for Ashleigh Shear Fitzgerald, who guided Drury Volleyball to a 16-14 overall mark that represented the program's first winning season since moving to the NCAA-II level back in 1994.
So what to expect for an encore, when the Panthers open their season on Thursday at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, ranked No. 24 in the AVCA Division II national preseason poll?
"I hope we're competing for a good run at the conference title. I want to give ourselves a good chance at the conference tournament, and don't want to be a seventh or eighth seed. I think our defense is much improved because our attacking is improved. I'm excited to see what we can do."
With a veteran returning cast bolstered by some key recruiting additions, Fitzgerald expects her Panthers to continue moving forward in establishing DU volleyball as a traditional winner. And in her mind, there's no better time to do so, what with the buzz building over the Panthers' move into the new, 3,100-seat O'Reilly Family Event Center on campus this fall.
The first scheduled match for the Panthers in the new $13.5 million arena is officially on Friday, October 8 when Missouri Science and Technology comes to town for a Great Lakes Valley Conference match. But with administrative offices set to open in early September and construction moving on at a rapid rate, there is a chance the Panthers could play a match in the OFEC as early as Tuesday, September 21, when Rockhurst visits Springfield. (A determination on whether that match and others in September will be played in the OFEC or Weiser will come closer to the date of those competitions).
Nevertheless, there's plenty of excitement surrounding the product the Panthers will put on either or any floor in 2010, a grouop headed by returning All-GLVC Second Team selections Austin Warren and Kyrie Hopkins. Both seniors, Warren, a senior setter, enters her final season with 2,974 career assists, fifth on the all-time DU charts, and - needing 1,431 assists - has a shot at eclipsing the school record of 4,404 by Kim Metts from 1990-93, when the Panthers played far more matches per season than in today's current NCAA-II structure.
Warren's 1,146 assists last season were the sixth most in a single season in DU history, and the most since Casie Westrich posted 1,382 in the 2000 campaign. Warren, a Lebanon High School product, averaged 10.32 assists per game last season, fourth best in the GLVC.
The 5-foot-11 Hopkins, meanwhile, is coming off a junior season in which she set a new DU single-season record with her .369 hitting percentage, best in the GLVC. The middle-hitter was seventh in the league with 3.22 kills per game and fifth in scoring at 3.81 points per game while posting 335 kills and 81 blocks, both team-highs for the Panthers.
"They've really done a good job of setting the expectations for the rest of our team and especially our new players," Fitzgerald says. "I hope they set really high goals for themselves this season as well as their teammates."
Warren and Hopkins are half of a group of four seniors - joining outside hitters Kayla Hellebusch and Jagoda Pstras - who are being counted on heavily by Fitzgerald to provide the leadership to lead the Panthers to back-to-back winning seasons. They are preseason picks to finish seventh in the 15-team GLVC race by the league's coaches after finishing 8-6 in conference play last season and advancing to the league's post-season tournament for the fourth time in five years.
They will help guide a squad that features additional returning players in junior outside hitters Ali Rook and Riley Citron and sophomore setter Kaitlin Goetz to go with a group of five talented newcomers - junior transfer libero Michelle O'Dell, sophomore transfers Alex Smith (an outside hitter) and Lauren Dorris (a defensive specialist) and freshmen Elly Citron and Amanda Watson, both tall middle hitters.
The energetic O'Dell was a First Team NJCAA All-America selection after leading Cowley County (Kan.) Community College to finishes of second (2010) and fifth (2009) in the nation, while Smith - like Hopkins and Goetz, a former Nixa High School standout - was an Honorable Mention All-MIAA performer at SBU as a freshman, where she finished second on the team with averages of 2.69 kills and 2.77 digs. Dorris was a former Hillcrest High standout who transferred back to town from Florissant Valley Community College, where she led her squad in assists and aces, while Citron - younger sister of Riley - and Watson both come to DU with highly impressive prep credentials.
"O'Dell will play some really nice defense for us and Alex also has come in and really done well ... she beats the ball really hard," Fitzgerald said. "Amanda blocked seven balls in five games in our intrasquad scrimmage, and we haven't had that kind of presence in a while, while Elly provides a really good offensive game."
It's a combination that Fitzgerald, assisted again by former Washburn star Tessa Jones this season, believes will come together chemistry-wise on their Alaska trip this week and be ready to make noise in the GLVC by the time the league season starts with a September 17 match at Maryville. A quick start again would be a plus, as DU bolted out of the gates last season with victories in its first six matches and 10 of its first 14.
"Hopefully the Alaska trip will also give us some experience against a really good team so we can can see where we stand," Fitzgerald said of two games each against No. 24 Alaska Anchorage - coming off a 23-8 record a year ago - and Alaska Fairbanks, which finished 12-15 last season but has added several transfers to the roster for 2010.
One big area of improvement for DU a year ago - the Panthers were 5-2 in matches decided in the fifth set, including a season-making, 3-2 victory at Rockhurst that included a 27-25 triumph in the final set. It represented Drury's first win at Rockhurst in 10 tries since 2001 and just the second victory in 20 matches against the Hawks in that stretch.
After the Alaska trip, the Panthers will continue prepping for league play with tournaments at Texas Woman's University (Denton, Texas) and Missouri S & T in Rolla before settling into single regular season matches. Drury will again participate in the GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Challenge October 15-16 in Chicago.
First Video Blog From Panthers In Alaska (Updated 8-26-10)
Live Stats Link For Alaska Matches
Free Live Video Webcast Link For DU Matches vs. Alaska Anchorage (Thursday, Saturday)
Coach Ashleigh Shear's Season Preview On The Panther Podcast