Volleyball returns to action

Looking to start the season off on the right foot, the women's volleyball squad will open the season today away from home for the second straight season in a challenging tournament on the road. Last year, they came away without wins until returning to friendly confines of O'Keefe Gymnasium.

This year, however, looks to be different through the voice and hands of senior setter Lindsey Laband, who anchors a talented front line with returning starter Ulrike Stegemann, a sophomore middle hitter from Germany.

"It's different than any other year with so many people and different people playing different positions. We definitely intend to lay out the new face of Georgia Tech volleyball and definitely prove people wrong because a lot of people don't know anything and they don't really understand how we're going to do it again. I think that's the fun part," Laband said.

Laband doesn't talk about personal goals as individual ambitions. For her, personal goals are team goals. On the court, Laband concerns herself with leading the team vocally and making sure she's doing her job: setting up the big kills for the front line.

This year's team is much different from last year's veteran squad led by All-Americans Lynette Moster and Lauren Sauer, who now plays a critical role on the women's basketball squad, as well as Jayme Gergen, who was recently hired as an assistant coach in Blacksburg for Virginia Tech. Losing such soon-to-be-legendary talent doesn't scare Laband, who banks on the combined talent of the underclassmen to come together to continue the success of Tech volleyball.

"I think they have the potential to create a new kind of All-American at Georgia Tech," said the star setter who led the nation in assists per game in her first full season last year and who also earned her first All-American honor.

"[The team can get back] something different for what they bring to the table. Lynette [Moster] was really quiet but really focused and determined and made sure she got it done. Lauren [Sauer] was just so powerful and Jayme was quick and had a lot of heart. And that's one thing in that each player this year has something different and each of them takes after an All-American that left in their own way but creating a new All-American at Georgia Tech at the same time."

For 2005, Head Coach Bond Shymansky has brought in Tech volleyball's most highly touted recruiting class in his three years as head coach.

This year's freshman recruiting class includes six players: Laura DeMichelis, outside hitter from Aurora, Colorado; Allie Niekamp, who is slated to take over the setter role in her coming years at Tech; Callie Miller, a 6'1" middle blocker from Toledo; Michelle Kandell, libero and defensive specialist; Talisa Kellogg, a 6'1" outside hitter; and finally, walk-on Stephanie Robbins, who has gotten rave reviews from Laband in practice.

Commenting on the size of the recruiting class, Laband said, "It's so much fun to be a part of that, and me helping them out is really just trying to make that ball perfect for them technique-wise so they can get good technical swings in every time, mainly since they're all hitters."

Part of Laband's role on the team in practice is to act as a mentor to the younger players, which includes teaching the players who will replace her next season.

Niekamp could be Laband's replacement a year from now. "She's so much further along than I was my freshman year. She has perfect hands and I wish I had her hands."

As one of two seniors on the squad, Laband assumes a leadership role with classmate Jennifer Randall, who Laband is happy to have anchoring the backline. "She started every single game since her freshmen year and she deserves more credit because I look to her and I'm like, 'I need this ball. I need a perfect pass'. I'm always yelling 'Serve, Jen, serve!' She's such a gamer and when she gets on the court, she's always 100 percent focused."

The team will open the season on the road in Arizona against three tough teams in Northwestern, Arizona and Winthtrop, all teams that could jump out to an early lead on the young Tech squad.

"I think we're all a little bit nervous when we're down a little bit in a game," Laband said. "It's just a momentum game and it swings constantly. Maintaining our momentum is something we have to do. We have to focus on the next ball."

Despite a team that is still developing a feel for game-like intensity, Laband feels that team chemistry is where it needs to be to compensate for the lack of experience on the team. Passion for the game, Laband said, drives this team chemistry.

"Having this love for the game and having this passion to go for every ball is the cornerstone of Georgia Tech volleyball. Bond talked about how there's choices and there's effort in practice. You're going to choose to do something or you're going to do it. We just do it," Laband said.

The success of the team in the past few years as shown the success of having such a mentality

The Jackets home opener is Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. against George Washington.