When she talks about her squad and its upcoming season, there’s something in volleyball head coach Kaddie Platt’s voice that is enough to create a sense of curiosity, if for only the story lines surrounding.
Platt has overseen an offseason of acquisitions and, in her mind, improvement despite the loss of key senior starters.
“I feel good. I feel that we’ll be in system a lot, which will open up our offense, so I’m feeling confident there. It’s a whole new league,” Platt said.
“I feel like we’ve ingrained in them the preparation part of ‘this is how we win’, as far as our returners go. Now we just need to get the new players on board. I feel like they’re the types that will do that.”
Sophomore libero and defensive specialist Olivia O’Dell said the team’s young players be an asset this season.
“We have a really good freshman class coming in and the transfers that we have in, and I just think we have a really good base to start off this season with. It’ll really keep us prepared for this season.”
With only one senior, something Platt thinks might be a legitimate first in her coaching career, changes and tinkering began as early as recruiting — all as part of a quest to shift to a ball-control team.
“Our seniors last year were very dynamic hitters — very athletic and strong. After four years of being a college athlete, there’s a level of strength and mindset that you’ve accumulated as far as achievement,” Platt said.
“They were these dynamic people. I don’t know if we’re that dynamic (now); we are a little bit better at volleyball skills. … We still have some great athletes, we just needed a little more balance of skill.”
The squad, which saw their season end in the Conference-USA tournament with a loss to UCF, will face another challenge, although it’s one they are more than willing to take on. Like every team at UH, they will face higher competition with the leap to the American Athletic Conference. Defensive specialist Meredith Ware, the team’s lone senior, has optimism about the increased competition.
“It definitely requires us to be more prepared because we don’t know our competition,” Ware said. “We don’t know the players we would have been playing against three years before. We’re not playing Rice any more or Tulsa.”
From her experiences with the returning players to her impressions of the new recruits, Platt is confident in her squad.
“We had a strong schedule last year, and I think (the team is filled with) competitors, and they want to have that challenge,” Platt said. “I think they’ll look at it as an opportunity to get better and an opportunity to prove how we’re growing with our program.”
