Volleyball Looking to Rise to a New Level

Article by Chris Harris, Devils Lake Journal Sports, August 22nd, 2018

A smile rose across Lake Region State College head volleyball coach Brigitte Greywater's face when discussing her 2018 Royals.

"We're going to be able to more technical this year than we've ever been before," Greywater began. "And that's been really exciting that we'll be able to master some skill sets because we go three-or-four deep in every single position this year.

"Because of the personnel that we have available, the speed, the agility, those pieces allow us, hopefully, to run a quick offense, maintaining more precision in passing and a faster tempo all the way around. And we have not been able to do that in the last three or four years."

Speed. Quickness. Precise passing. It's the formula for … confidence?

"I think we'll have more confidence knowing that we can go in (into matches) and run that type of an offense and we have that type of confidence, you walk in with more control," said Greywater.

In the vernacular of the times swag — an offshoot of 'sway' meaning to have the ability to exercise influence or authority. Having that confidence against your opponent can be an influential factor between wins and losses. Greywater understands this.

"We want to break the ceiling. We want to rise to the level that we can compete at and we want to break the ceiling because once you break the ceiling, you get a sense of hey, here we go.

"I've seen them do so much in preseason volleyball that now that is an expectation on the floor and if that is a consist expectation on the floor, I do believe you're going to see a winning record this year," Greywater said.

Leading the Royals on this journey will be sophomore middle blocker Elizabeth Lucy, who flirted with the Top 50 in blocks last season, sophomore Precious Ratlins and freshman Rachel Hill are competing for the setter position, one of many competitions that has Greywater grinning from ear to ear of what the prospects of this season can bring.

Chris Harris can be reached at charris@devilslakejournal.com and on Twitter: @ChrisHarris_DLJ