Jacket Volleyball Reaching, Approaching Goals - West Virginia State University Athletics

     West Virginia State Head Volleyball Coach Kris Kern set a couple of simple goals for his team this year.

     "Win 20 and get into the conference tournament," he said. "That's it."

     Considering that Kern is only in his second year and that the Yellow Jackets finished 6-22 overall and just 3-13 in Mountain East play the season before he took over those simple goals do not seem so, well, simple.

     But with four wins in their last five matches WVSU now has a 22-10 overall record and 7-6 conference mark good for seventh place. The top eight make the Mountain East tournament. The Yellow Jackets finished 14-16 and 6-10 in Kern's first season.

     With just three more regular season matches to play this fall, all of them conference matches, the Yellow Jackets control their own destiny. The Jackets just need to win one of the three to clinch a tournament spot.

      While they will be slight underdogs at fourth-place Charleston on Tuesday at 7 p.m., WVSU will be favored at home against 10th place Concord Friday and 11th place Virginia-Wise Saturday. The Concord match starts at 7 p.m. and Saturday's match at 1 p.m.

     "We'd like to win them all," freshman libero Kelsie Bossert said.

    Bossert hails from Adena High school in Frankfort, Ohio, and has been one of the major additions and finds for Kern this season.

    Though she says she is "5-foot-3 or 5-4" Bossert was a hitter in high school.

      "She played in a very successful high school program back in Ohio and I knew of their program," he said. "In high school a lot of times being a hitter is about placing the ball and I thought she would be a good defender because she had been a hitter, she knew the angles."

       The libero is a defensive specialist who wears a different color jersey from her teammates and is allowed to stay on he back line the entire match.

       Currently Bossert is 12th in the MEC in digs per set averaging 3.63 per set. That has been steadily increasing as she has become more comfortable with her new role. She has averaged 4.8 digs per set over the last seven matches.

      "It was rough at first, I didn't expect to be the libero at the beginning of the season," Bossert said of both adjusting to college play and a new position. "Now I have a lot more confidence."

      Whiles setters and hitters get a lot of the attention Kern and Bossert both realize the importance of the back row players.

       "We're as good as our passing," Kern said. "I think we have one of the best setters in the conference in Tabi (Pontious) and two or three of the top hitters but everything 5266

starts with the pass."

      Pontious is second in the Mountain East with an average of 9.87 assists per set.

       Having played the game from both the libero and hitter positions Bossert agrees.

       "For the setters to be able to get assists and the hitters to be able to get kills you have to get a dig first," she said. "Before every play I tell myself that I/m not going to let the ball hit the floor no matter what it takes."

       A similar determination runs through the whole team.

      "We've come a long way," Bossert said. "Our blocking has improved and our defense is working well together."

       Now the Yellow Jackets have reached one goal and are within striking distance of their other one.

      "It's satisfying," Bossert said. "But there is a lot more work to be done."

       The young Yellow Jackets have begun to make their mark though.

       Nationally WVSU is ranked #12 in total team blocks, #14 in service aces, #15 in team kills, and #20 in team assists.

       The Mountain East Championship tournament starts on Thursday, November 8 and runs through Saturday, November 10 at the top seed, currently Wheeling Jesuit.

Print Friendly Version