Aug. 9, 2002

by David Applegate
TarHeelBlue.com

They are out on the track and in the weight room. They are on the practice courts and in the pool.

Even though practice just started Thursday (Aug. 8), the 16-member 2002 Carolina volleyball team, the trainers and the coaches can't wait for preseason to end and to step on the court in Carmichael on Friday, Aug. 30. vs. New Mexico State.

"Preseason is rough on your body and on your mind," senior outside hitter Malaika Underwood said. "As far as preseason goes, I know that it's leading up to a season, and that is what I am really looking forward to."

Senior Laura Greene echoed Underwood's sentiments.

"The fitness testing makes you drag right at the start, but everyone is excited about practicing," Greene said.

Still, the grueling preseason schedule of double sessions brings its own type of excitement. But the team's focus is on the task at hand - the prospect of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year and the chance at winning a fourth consecutive ACC Championship.

"I am really excited because it is our senior season, and it is our last chance to put it out there and make it to the Sweet 16," Greene said after Thursday's evening session.

Greene and Underwood join setter Eve Rackham and middle hitter Holly Strauss as the four members of the senior class that will both headline and anchor the team.

"I spent three years thinking that I gotta get to my senior year, and now here I am," Underwood said. "I am really excited and I think we have potential out the door.

"The freshman are great, the sophomores and juniors are great, and with the experience of my class we are going to take control."

Head coach Joe Sagula is entering his 13th year leading the Tar Heels and is part of the preseason electricity that goes along with the start of practice.

"Any time you start the first couple of days of preseason it is just a great feeling because it's a time of opportunity," the coach said. "It is exciting to see what we have. The players are all geared up. It's a very spirited time of the season because there are no classes; they are here to work hard. They know what to expect."

The team returns 10 letterwinners and three freshmen are in their first collegiate volleyball practice. Sagula said that the high ratio of veterans to newcomers makes his job easier.

"As I look on the court there is a veteran group with so many letterwinners returning that as we make the transition for the start of the season we should be at a pretty good level," Sagula said. "We don't have to go over the little things, they know all that. It's just plugging things in - let's pick up the balls and start training hard and competing."

Both the coach and the veteran players said the spring season is what gave the team the momentum to springboard into a successful fall.

"I think it started last spring," Greene said. "We worked really hard on team chemistry and to make sure that everyone is included and we were doing everything as a team, not just practicing."

With the veterans meshing as a group, the freshmen have come in and are fitting in great, Sagula said. He added that this year has been one of the simplest transitions during his tenure.

Preseason is also the time for another set of new faces to adjust to the Carolina preseason routine. First-year assistant coaches Jim Lodes and Jill Lytle are also part of that transition.

"The assistant coaches are learning what is going on, and they are doing well," Sagula said. "They really compliment everything I do and what the team needs to learn from them."

The other fresh faces in camp are the three freshmen - McKenzie Byrd, Dani Nyenhuis and Taylor Rayfield.

"I thought it was going to be more like club, but it is totally different," said Nyenhuis, who played her club ball along with Byrd. "It is good and I like it, but it is going to take a lot of getting used to."

She also got an immediate taste of team chemistry.

"You can tell that you are on the court with winners," she said. "Everyone pushes each other, and I think it will help in the long run."

Camilla Ihenetu, who is coming off her freshman year in which she took a red-shirt, summed up the team's excitement as well as her own.

"I am very excited for this year," she said. "I think we have a lot of talent, we have a lot of people who are competitive and ready to go out and raise the level at which we play.

"The goal that we have is to get into the Top 25 and then the Top 16. I think we have a lot of competitive players out here who won't settle for anything less."