Volleyball | 9/1/2015 11:00:00 AM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University volleyball team will open the 2015 season as one of the teams in the Tampa Classic. The Warriors will face four teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25 beginning with fourth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth on Friday at 10 AM. The opening day concludes with the reigning national champion and the top-ranked team in the country, Tampa at 2:30 PM. WSU will meet ninth-ranked Wheeling Jesuit on Sunday at 10 AM and conclude the tournament with a match against #24 Western Washington at 4:45 PM.

All matches will be available to watch online in addition to live stats being available throughout the weekend. Click on the coverage link to find those links for each match.

During the 2015 preseason head coach Tim Koth sat down to talk about the upcoming season with Assistant Director of Media Relations Cameron Weidenthaler.

CW:  What was the biggest thing you will take away from your first season at Wayne State?
TK:  There is no question that we have a much clearer understanding of where the returning roster is and was in terms of its training and ability and what we needed to address both with recruiting and the development of the players who were here.

CW:  You talked about creating a culture of excellence prior to last season. Where are you in that process?
 TK:  We are in year two! I think what that means is we have – during the course of a full year -  established what is expected of our team on the court, in the classroom and in the community and have put rules in place to accomplish those expectations.  Where we are as a group is working through the insistence of "rules" to eventually make the rules "habit".
 
CW: Analyze a few of the key returning letterwinners.
 TK:  Well I think all 10 of the returning players made strides this past spring.  I think a couple of keys going in to the fall will be – first, the health of Second Team All-GLIAC outside hitter Emily Norscia.  She proved to be a very strong attacker for us last fall but she had some continuing injury issues.  We believe that has been solved and we will need it to be, as I expect we will rely on her offensive skill set quite a bit in 2015.  Setter Brittany Guldan may be another key.  She improved her skills greatly in the spring.  If she continues this trend with her work over the summer, she really could develop into a top level setter because she is very athletic!  Senior Kelsey Bonewits – we transitioned her in the spring to play more on the right side of the court.  If she continues her improvement there – she would add offensive tempo  and improved blocking to that position.
 
CW:  Discuss the class of newcomers and what they can bring to the roster.
 TK:  I expect this class to impact both the present and future of WSU Volleyball.  First, they all have the pedigree of championship culture that we expect.  Adding them to the returning group will only be a positive impact to an improved year two in that area.  This class has also addressed, in our opinion, the weaknesses we demonstrated last fall.  We have also added a couple pieces for the future, that we think will make big impacts after a year of training in our system.  They add depth in all areas, and potentially a few starters could be in the mix.

CW:  The schedule looks tough this season, especially the non-conference slate. What are the advantages of that type of schedule?
 TK:  I have never been one to shy away from competing against top level competition.  Off the top of my head this non-conference schedule will have four top 25 opponents and six NCAA tournament teams from 2014.  The biggest advantage to playing this type of schedule (all of which are on the road) is we get a very true measurement of our team, its strengths and weakness and how close we are to competing at the highest level of Division II.  Maybe the most important test is we get to see just how competitive and mentally tough we really are.  Ultimately this best prepares our team to make a strong run in the GLIAC.

CW:  Goals typically remain the same for teams from year-to-year but what is one goal that needs to be accomplished this season?
 TK:  We could talk about outcome related goals, like number of wins, GLIAC Tournament and NCAA Tournament success – but the goal that MUST be accomplished this season is the commitment each player makes – to the team, to the program and to the process.  If we have the entire roster committed and on board the rest will take care of itself.
 
CW:  Will your coaching style change in this season as opposed to last?
TK:  Personally?  Well, I have been involved in collegiate coaching in some capacity since about 1987 – my hope is that I have been able to adapt and change as times and the game itself have.  My hope is that my team will always compete very hard on every single play, that they will expect to win every time out and will conduct themselves accordingly.  How I will change is that each year's team is different and you need to find a way to accomplish those goals.  In terms of our teams style – we hope our ball control is improved!  If it is, we would definitely like to play at a faster tempo offensively and improve our unforced error ratio.