{"id":401,"date":"2013-11-08T19:10:58","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T19:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=401"},"modified":"2013-11-08T19:10:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T19:10:58","slug":"volleyball-positivity-leads-to-success-in-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2013\/11\/08\/volleyball-positivity-leads-to-success-in-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleyball Positivity Leads to Success in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

By CHARLIE GRIGSBY<\/strong> – STAFF WRITER<\/em><\/p>\n

In the back of Alumni Hall, three plastic boards sit atop a wooden counter. One board is titled \u201cWeekly Will-Powers\u201d and lists the Centre Volleyball team\u2019s focus from each week of the season. The other two boards are divided into grids. In each grid, individual players write down their goals as a reminder of what they\u2019re working towards everyday on and off the court. In the bottom right-hand corner of the rightmost board, one of the team\u2019s goals is circled, written in bold, black marker:<\/p>\n

\u201cBE SOMEONE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Programs elevate with impact recruiting classes or home-run coaching hires. In the case of Centre Volleyball, change was simply a matter of will. This year, Centre Volleyball lost one senior and gained three first-years. Their record went from 15-16 a season ago to 22-4 headed into the 2013 SAA Conference Tournament. A lot of change has happened in a year, but you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell by looking at the roster.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Centre volleyball team celebrates after scoring a point in a previous match this season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe whole team dynamic has changed,\u201d head coach James Neyhouse said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that they contribute something different to the team,\u201d senior middle hitter Lydia Prevost said. \u201cEveryone has a place. Anyone can play at anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you look back at the boards, almost every player has put the word \u201cpositive\u201d in her grid. Positivity on and off the court has been the biggest emphasis this season, and you won\u2019t find a player who says it\u2019s not the biggest difference in what has been Centre Volleyball\u2019s best regular season under Coach Neyhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team is playing a lot better together,\u201d sophomore outside hitter Beth Cecil said. \u201cWe\u2019ve built each other up so much, there\u2019s a lot of positivity that flows through [the team] this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colonels\u2019 talent may be constant from last year to this year, but everything about the team\u2019s attitude has changed. Coach Neyhouse credits seniors Kimberly Lownds, Kary Stivers, Lydia Prevost, and Catherine Janszen as leaders in changing the culture of Centre Volleyball. Even then, the seniors are quick to admit that the change in chemistry has been team-wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s everyone that\u2019s been supportive of each other. There\u2019s no hostility about playing time, anything. It\u2019s a really positive atmosphere,\u201d senior rightside hitter Kimberly Lownds said.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s a diving sideline dig or a failed bump that sails towards the stands, the players are all smiles. A point scored during a practice scrimmage can lead to a deafening roar In the snug Alumni Gym. Is atmosphere really all it takes to compete for a conference championship?<\/p>\n

\u201cSpread positive energy. We know it\u2019s going to win games,\u201d Cecil said. \u201cLast year, we\u2019d beat ourselves by simply being negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 12-2 in conference games, the Colonels are going into the SAA tournament as the second seed. The top seed, Berry College, is the team who\u2019s given Centre its only two losses in conference play.<\/p>\n

Ask the players and they\u2019ll tell you that they prepare game-by-game. Mention Berry and they\u2019ll laugh. When asked about a potential matchup with Berry in the SAA conference championship game, senior setter Kary Stivers offered Berry slight praise before changing the subject to Centre\u2019s opening round game with Sewanee.<\/p>\n

Berry may be \u201cjust another game,\u201d but it\u2019s obvious the Colonels have unfinished business with the regular season champions. The goal of the season is unanimously \u201cto win the conference,\u201d but the seniors envision something larger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about establishing ourselves. We want to keep it going,\u201d Lownds said.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because the seniors don\u2019t want their season to end in the SAA Conference Tournament, and with an early season win over then-Top 25 Washington and Lee, Centre has a chance to make it to the NCAA tournament with a conference tournament championship.<\/p>\n

The seniors don\u2019t want their legacy to end with this season. The top right corner of the Weekly Will-Powers board has nine letters: \u201cOCB. BTH. GKA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letters have been in the program for two decades. They\u2019re what motivate the players before each game they play, but none of the players will tell you what it means; some motivation is supposed to be internal. By the end of the season, Centre Volleyball will be someone. They\u2019ll be whatever they want to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By CHARLIE GRIGSBY – STAFF WRITER In the back of Alumni Hall, three plastic boards sit atop a wooden counter. One board is titled \u201cWeekly Will-Powers\u201d and lists the Centre Volleyball team\u2019s focus from each week of the season. The other two boards are divided into grids. In each grid, individual players write down their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}