March 17, 2006

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball team finished its fifth spring practice of 2006 on Friday. The Gamecocks are in the first of six consecutive weeks of training in preparation for the fall season.

The following are some of USC head coach Nancy Somera’s thoughts from this week’s practices:

On what she is hoping to accomplish in the early stages of spring practice:
“When players go from winter training to team training, the emphasis is to get six people comfortable together on the court. For the past two months, they’ve been working out individually or in small groups. We are trying to get them to respond to each other vocally and move together. We want them to transfer the ball-control work they did in the winter into full, transitional volleyball.”

On team improvement she has seen from last season:
“As a team, I’m starting to see them have more of a competitive edge. They’re tougher, they have more grit, they have more fight in them and they’re starting to understand the level of effort it requires to be a winning team. I’m starting to see that level of competitive effort more consistently.

“The theme has been get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Once you have a team that can do that, you quickly see a team playing with a lot more confidence because they stop trying to avoid the uncomfortable; they become more willing to take on the mindset of the harder the better, the tougher the better. That’s becoming something we strive for.”

On individual improvement from last season:
“Individually, Alexcis Thomson has really emerged as a solid leader for us. I find myself gravitating to her in leadership situations. That’s nice to see.”

On having Lynae Vanden Hull back from a knee injury suffered last year against Clemson:
“It’s great having Lynae back. She jumped up and hit her first ball the other day, and it was great to see. Lynae has done a phenomenal job with her rehab. I have no doubt that she’ll be ready to go by next fall.”