UMFK Women’s Volleyball Looking To Put Together a Solid Winning Season

Fort Kent, Maine (WAGM) - The UMFK women’s volleyball team had an uneven season last year and will try to rewrite the script this year in hopes of a different ending.

Coach Tara Kelley says this 2022 Bengal’s squad is totally different than any other she coached before.

Tara Kelley: “Mainly because of energy, my last year’s team was a little bit less energetic, but this team is super super energetic , I mean they; their way more positive then I’ve seen any other team that I’ve been a part of. So that’s kind of what I was feeding off of right there was mainly their energy”

The Bengal’s went 12-14 last year. They made it all the way to the USCAA National tournament but only won 1 of 4 matches. The National Tournament was a learning experience for the team and it taught them a lot.

Tara Kelley: “We needed more out of each other, more energy, more positivity, more everything , especially more heart, and i think that is something this team already has. So I think that going into this season I was excited for those qualities alone. So, I’m excited to make it back to the national tournament, hopefully, and kind of rewrite our history there”

The athletes are fully prepared to do whatever they can to help the team in their role

Torrie Woods: “Being a middle blocker, you got to be big, you got to be strong, got to be confident. I’m really the start of our defense, if I’m not up there getting big and blocking balls then obviously that’s on our ds and our libero’s so. When you step out on the court, the main thing is you got to have pride, you got to have ego, got to feel like when you get out there, your better than everybody else you’re playing against so”.

But of course, in their roles, the most important thing they can do is work on their teamwork with each other.

Kayla Iwata: " If you can’t work well as a team on the court, you’re never ever going to succeed as a team, you’re never going to make it to the big game, to nationals, or to anything you know. Just working as a team.... its apart of the sport you know, were not playing tennis or golf this is a big girl game and i think for us playing as a team, we work very well together, and the teamwork is there so we love that”.

There will be a lot of things to drive this team to success this year, but one thing was repeated every time I asked, consistency .

Torrie Woods : “You’ll hear all of us talk about it is the inconsistency , the fluctuating energy cause for as energetic as we are, it could get to us and sometimes we’ll go down and then we’ll come back up and then we’ll go down but you can’t do that in volleyball, if you want to start winning matches in three sets you got to stay consistent the whole way through”>

With a college that has been known for its outstanding sports teams and its athletes, this team hopes to enter its name into UMFK’s history as champions, and bring more trophies to the trophy case.

Jonathon Eigenmann, news source sports.

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