On top of the injuries that the team is continuing to recover from, the team is unhappy with its recent performances. With errors taking control of previous matches, Alabama is now 2-5 going into its Crimson-White Tournament this weekend.
“I think three very talented teams are coming in and playing pretty well, probably even more talented than the teams we had here last weekend,” coach Ed Allen said.
The tournament will include Troy, St. Louis, Virginia and Alabama.
“We’re expecting good competition,” sophomore middle blocker Leah Lawrence said. “Our team, especially, we need to show a little more focus while we’re playing which is what we’re working a lot on in practice.”
Sophomore outside hitter Kat Hutson said the team has been doing drills and game-like situations that challenge the team’s mental capacity. Drills fell among the lines of: you don’t win, you run. The team also puts itself in set situations with a 23-23 score. Hutson said it made the team figure out how put those two points away quickly and win the set.
“We’ve had the most challenging practices probably than we’ve had all season,” she said. “The level of expectation has definitely been raised during practice. We’re meeting it.”
It’s been about maintaining a high level of focus, executing skills when under pressure and focusing on getting big points that cause momentum shifts, Lawrence said. The errors that were made in previous matches were due to a lack of focus. Fixing the small things that can easily be controlled will help Alabama eliminate the number of errors it makes.
“The team we’re going to be competing against most is ourselves,” Hutson said. “Everything we can control is on our side of the net. Individually, we need to work on getting our minds right. Collectively, we need to work on communicating well, giving every effort we can on every single ball.”
Allen said the team is continuing to work on its defense but with offense, it’s working on recognizing opportunities better than it has. There isn’t anything specific the team is looking to focus on and change, but it’s all about each player of the team executing her job.
The goal going forward is simple. Get to 25 before everybody else does.
“We’d like to get back to winning like we’re capable of,” Allen said. “The mindset is to take care of your business that allows you to execute your job in a way that allows your teammates to trust you, that allows us to get to 25 before the other team does.”
The team is buckling down now and understanding that nothing is going to be handed to it, Hutson said. It’s going to embrace that fact now and work harder to take what it wants. She said it’s going to be a tough weekend but Alabama is a lot more prepared for it—a different team is about to show up this weekend in comparison to last.
“We’re expecting the other teams to show up and give us a competitive match and we expect to return the favor,” Lawrence said. “I think, this weekend especially, we’re going to play a little more like we have something to get back—or steal—from our opponents.”
