Indiana University Athletics
Dunbar-Kruzan Pleased With Spring Progress
4/27/2016 8:11:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
There's always going to be uncertainty when Indiana volleyball coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan sends her players on their separate ways for the summer. The questions are part of the game.
Will they keep training the way they're supposed to? Are they going remember everything we've been working on this spring? When they return in the fall, will they be fit? Is the chemistry going to be the same when they're all back on campus?
Every year, the same questions persist when the spring camp closes and the coaches begin their mandated time away from their players. But when the Hoosiers closed camp last week, Dunbar-Kruzan said she was as confident with this year's group as she has been in quite some time.
"I felt like when they left, you know, we're going to be alright," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "This is a really, really mature group. They get it. I think they know exactly where they are and where they need to be."
Schematically, the spring season was an extension of last fall. The Hoosiers kept mostly the same principles in place during their spring matches that were a mix of actual, competitive matches like they'd see in the season and a handful of more casual practice matches.
Although there's going to be the natural turnover in personnel that comes with each passing year, Dunbar-Kruzan said Indiana will still be undersized next season. As a result, the Hoosiers are expected to play quickly to make up for what they lack in size, much like they did with last year's roster.
"We're going to play fast, even faster than last year," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "We want to be more efficient, have better connections with our setters and just be more poised with our quickness."
Of course, having that speed only comes when the players are physically ready to push the tempo.
That's where strength coach Chris Virtue comes in. Over the offseason and into the spring, Virtue has been tasked with adding extra emphasis on improving players' flexibility and core strength in order to prepare them to play with the speed Dunbar-Kruzan wants.
"We noticed back in the fall that we didn't do as well in those strength areas as we wanted to do, and I think we hit those buttons really hard," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "I think we really reaped the benefits of it toward the end of spring when we really saw some improvement in the kids. The thing was that they were the ones noticing it, and when they notice it, it's huge motivation."
One of the more pressing issues for Indiana throughout the spring was establishing an identity, particularly with a new helm of rising seniors looking to replace a graduated class that Dunbar-Kruzan said was one of the more influential groups of players she's coached.
Jazzmine McDonald, Taylor Lebo, Megan Tallman, Allison Hammond and Mallory Waggoner have inherited the seniority on the team, which Dunbar-Kruzan said they've taken in stride. She added that they've begun to allow their personalities to come out, setting the tone for the rest of the team.
"The maturity of this group was way better than most groups we've worked with," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "So the types of discussions we could have about volleyball, the in-depth kind of work, I thought there was a clear understanding of what we were doing and then processing it and understanding where they can take it into the summer."
And that's just what the Hoosiers will attempt to do next. Although some are staying through May, the team won't begin its work again until June workouts start up in full swing when the rest of the freshmen arrive on campus.
Though the separation leaves the coaching staff hoping the players continue to build on their own, Dunbar-Kruzan said she's confident the gains her team made in the spring will carry over.
"I've just seen them taking some really big steps," she said. "If we can carry that into the summer and then next fall, we've got something here."
Stay tuned for 2016 schedule release and season tickets go on sale Monday May 2.
IUHoosiers.com
There's always going to be uncertainty when Indiana volleyball coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan sends her players on their separate ways for the summer. The questions are part of the game.
Will they keep training the way they're supposed to? Are they going remember everything we've been working on this spring? When they return in the fall, will they be fit? Is the chemistry going to be the same when they're all back on campus?
Every year, the same questions persist when the spring camp closes and the coaches begin their mandated time away from their players. But when the Hoosiers closed camp last week, Dunbar-Kruzan said she was as confident with this year's group as she has been in quite some time.
"I felt like when they left, you know, we're going to be alright," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "This is a really, really mature group. They get it. I think they know exactly where they are and where they need to be."
Schematically, the spring season was an extension of last fall. The Hoosiers kept mostly the same principles in place during their spring matches that were a mix of actual, competitive matches like they'd see in the season and a handful of more casual practice matches.
Although there's going to be the natural turnover in personnel that comes with each passing year, Dunbar-Kruzan said Indiana will still be undersized next season. As a result, the Hoosiers are expected to play quickly to make up for what they lack in size, much like they did with last year's roster.
"We're going to play fast, even faster than last year," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "We want to be more efficient, have better connections with our setters and just be more poised with our quickness."
Of course, having that speed only comes when the players are physically ready to push the tempo.
That's where strength coach Chris Virtue comes in. Over the offseason and into the spring, Virtue has been tasked with adding extra emphasis on improving players' flexibility and core strength in order to prepare them to play with the speed Dunbar-Kruzan wants.
"We noticed back in the fall that we didn't do as well in those strength areas as we wanted to do, and I think we hit those buttons really hard," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "I think we really reaped the benefits of it toward the end of spring when we really saw some improvement in the kids. The thing was that they were the ones noticing it, and when they notice it, it's huge motivation."
One of the more pressing issues for Indiana throughout the spring was establishing an identity, particularly with a new helm of rising seniors looking to replace a graduated class that Dunbar-Kruzan said was one of the more influential groups of players she's coached.
Jazzmine McDonald, Taylor Lebo, Megan Tallman, Allison Hammond and Mallory Waggoner have inherited the seniority on the team, which Dunbar-Kruzan said they've taken in stride. She added that they've begun to allow their personalities to come out, setting the tone for the rest of the team.
"The maturity of this group was way better than most groups we've worked with," Dunbar-Kruzan said. "So the types of discussions we could have about volleyball, the in-depth kind of work, I thought there was a clear understanding of what we were doing and then processing it and understanding where they can take it into the summer."
And that's just what the Hoosiers will attempt to do next. Although some are staying through May, the team won't begin its work again until June workouts start up in full swing when the rest of the freshmen arrive on campus.
Though the separation leaves the coaching staff hoping the players continue to build on their own, Dunbar-Kruzan said she's confident the gains her team made in the spring will carry over.
"I've just seen them taking some really big steps," she said. "If we can carry that into the summer and then next fall, we've got something here."
Stay tuned for 2016 schedule release and season tickets go on sale Monday May 2.
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