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Illinois Volleyball Spring Notebook #1
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Michelle Bartsch made great strides during the spring season last year.
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Feb. 2, 2010
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illini volleyball spent most of 2009 inside the top 10 and to help prepare his team to advance even further in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Kevin Hambly has put together a competitive spring schedule that includes three teams ranked in the Top 12 in the final rankings and another that spent most of the year in the Top 25.
Two of those four matches will be at home - April 3 vs. No. 12 Kentucky and April 24 vs. Saint Louis. During both of those Saturdays, the teams will conduct a closed practice during the morning and then scrimmage in the afternoon at Huff Hall, which will be open to the public. Exact times are yet to be determined.
The Illini will also compete against two of the top Big 12 schools - No. 5 Nebraska and No. 6 Iowa State. The match with Iowa State will be April 10 at Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, Iowa. The Illini and Cyclones will provide a clinic for area youth junior high or younger before squaring off in an open scrimmage during the afternoon.
Illinois will treat the April 17 trip to Lincoln, Neb., as a match weekend with the anticipation of a packed house at the 4,030-seat NU Coliseum.
"We are fortunate in this region to have a lot of top 15 teams within driving distance," Hambly said. "It's exciting to play against some of those teams in the spring and see what we're made of. I like the fact that we are going to playing each week in front of some crowd. We have a lot of players returning, some that need to be tested in that environment."
Spring drills begin
Illinois has begun individual session practices, a time that Hambly calls "one of his favorite times of the year."
"The whole spring in general is really individualized, focusing on skills and techniques," he said. "We're even bringing the players who have been here a while back to the very basics and working on making them more efficient.
"For instance, Michelle Bartsch came in as mostly a front row player and throughout last year people found she could pass, play defense and hit out of the back row. This time of the year was really valuable in her development. This year we're working to make her more of a serve/receive passer for us.
"It's hard to see the subtle changes to Laura's (DeBruler) arm swing, but last year she worked to become more efficient so she could increase her range. She used to be mainly a seam or cross hitter. Now she can hit the line and tool and has added some other things to her game."
DeBruler improved her hitting efficiency from .198 as a freshman to .253 as a sophomore and .300 this year, earning her First Team All-America honors.
Signees continue to bring home accolades
The recognition continues to roll in for Illinois signees. California natives Jazmine Orozco (Lakewood) and Jennifer Bonilla (Los Angeles Marymount) were each named to prepvolleyball.com's All-America list. Orozco was on the first team while Bonilla was an honorable mention selection.
