Three weeks into the regular season and the Wesmen women’s volleyball team is off to its best start in years, and head coach Diane Scott thinks it’s going to be a good year for her team.

“What makes the team great is that everyone is willing to work hard and make changes,” she said. “When we’re in the gym, we’re all on the same page.”

Scott believes the team improved a lot during the pre-season, and was pleased when they opened up their regular season with two wins on the road against UBC Okanagan.

Fifth-year captain Lauren Sears also believes the team has a lot of potential this year. The combination of older and younger players has worked out well, and made for competitive practices, she said.

“We have a few older girls this year,” Sears said. “Not everyone is 17 or 18 coming in, which helps in terms of experience and what they bring to the table.”

Last year, the team finished with six regular season wins. This year, only four games into the season, they’ve already won three games.

If the team continues with their winning record, it will put them in a good position for the playoffs come February.

But the key is to focus on the present, Sears said.

“We’re taking it match by match,” she said. “We need to find our own consistency and worry about our side of the floor. If we can take care of that, then things are going to go our way.”

On the men’s side, the Wesmen volleyball team dominated the pre-season and finished with a winning record of 5-1. During the pre-season, they defeated other CanWest teams including the Brandon Bobcats and the Regina Cougars.

However, the regular season appears to be painting some different numbers.

While the first four regular-season matches have been close for the men’s team, their current regular-season record sits at 1-3.

Third-year player Matt Stubler commented on the team’s start to the season.

“It has not been the start we were hoping for,” he said. “We would have liked to start off the year with some more wins.”

Still, Stubler has confidence in his team to turn things around.

The team is learning from their mistakes, and making good use of their practices, he said. They weren’t blown out in the games they lost against Brandon and UBC Okanogan the last two weekends, and all four regular-season games have gone to four sets, he noted.

“We learned a lot from those losses,” he said. “And we will continue to work hard in practice to make sure we get the wins.”

The Wesmen volleyball teams will host the Calgary Dinos tonight (Thursday, Nov. 10) and tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 11). The men start things off at 6 p.m., followed by the women at 7:30 p.m.

Published in Volume 66, Number 11 of The Uniter (November 9, 2011)