The Odessa College volleyball team is coming off a national tournament appearance from 2023.
If the Lady Wranglers are to return, they’re going to need to do it with 11 new players.
Odessa College enters the 2024 campaign with plenty of new faces as only two players return from last year’s team that went 28-8 overall, 10-4 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
The two players coming back include setter Jade Cuya and outside hitter Hanna Nemeth.
Still, there’s a lot of excitement with head coach Dayana Acevedo-Rios surrounding this year’s team.
“I feel like this year, we have a young team,” Acevedo-Rios said. “We have a lot of new faces. But we’re different than what we’ve been in the past. This year, we have a solid team all around. We have really great defenders and a solid middle. We have our returning setter Jade, which is very important. She played a ton for us last year so we’re happy to have her back. We have Hanna from Hungary coming back. She’s another key player for us. We’re feeling good and we’re excited to see what we can do.”
Last year was the Lady Wranglers’ first appearance in the NJCAA National Tournament since the spring of 2021 and the first since Acevedo-Rios took over as head coach.
The Lady Wranglers were defeated in the first round by College of Southern Idaho and then eliminated by Colby at the national tournament.
However, as far as she’s concerned, last year is in the past.
“I feel like every year is different,” Acevedo-Rios said. “I feel like last year was last year. We had different players. Every year, we start back at zero. The standard is to always get to nationals. But I feel like this year we need to take it one game at a time and not look too far ahead. I feel like that’s what got us in trouble last year so we’re just enjoying the moment and understanding that each year is different and it’s a process.”
Cuya is eager to begin her sophomore season at Odessa College.
“We’re really excited to come back because I think this is going to be a good season for us,” Cuya said. “We have a good team and good coaches.”
Nemeth is another player who knows what to expect after playing in nationals last year.
“I think (going to the NJCAA Tournament) was a big motivation,” Nemeth said. “We know what to expect. We already know how to prepare. We’re trying to be better and just get to the finals.”
The Lady Wranglers are receiving some respect from the national polls as they enter this season ranked No. 8 in the NJCAA preseason polls.
Odessa College will begin its season with a tournament game against a familiar school, College of Southern Idaho, at 10 a.m. Friday at the New Mexico Military Institute Classic in Roswell, N.M.
The Lady Wranglers will then face Pima Community College at 2 p.m. Friday before facing Indian Hills Community College at 11 a.m. Saturday and wrapping up the tournament against Eastern Arizona College at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“We are facing basically every team minus a few from the rankings,” Acevedo-Rios said. “In the first couple of weeks, we’re going to see what we’re made of. With the way we planned the schedule, we want to see where we stand and prepare us for competition and the rankings. We have four teams from our region that are ranked, three from our conference. It’s a tough conference. Preseason tournaments will prepare us for conference.”
Despite the number of newcomers, Acevedo-Rios said it hasn’t been a challenge to get them up to speed before the season begins.
“I feel like the newcomers have come in ready,” Acevedo-Rios said. “The first few days were just spent getting them up to speed to the game. But I feel like when you’re surrounded by high-level players, you rise up automatically. I think they’ve done a great job of getting used to it. We have a lot of players that have played at high levels. Jade has played at the national team in Peru. Milica Peci has played at a high level and Tully Bew from Australia is another player that’s played at a high level. It’s just more about getting them used to playing the American game.”
The team began practice on Aug. 1 and hasn’t wasted any time getting started.
“This team is so eager to learn and they’re fun to be around,” Acevedo-Rios said. “They enjoy being around each other. I feel like they have gotten used to each other. It’s been fun. There’s been a lot of coaching.”
Also joining the coaching staff this year is McKenzi Shurley as the new assistant.
“My new assistant has been a great part of our training with her middle background, so she’s been helping our middles out,” Acevedo-Rios said. “Everything has been great.”
