Bobcat volleyball full of new faces
Aug. 23—Alanis, meet Miranda. Rachel, meet Camryn. Olivia, meet Hannah. Hayley, meet Brooke.
Imagine these kind of introductions going on over and over. That might describe the first full gathering of the new Georgia College volleyball club for the 2022 fall season.
Gretchen Krumdieck, the only coach in Bobcat volleyball history since the inception in 2013, welcomed in 11 new players, six being true freshmen. She also has a familiar Peach Belt Conference foe from Flagler College in the Milledgeville ranks as a graduate transfer.
Krumdieck at the very least could only lose two players from this year's team, and building towards the future is one of her major objectives this fall. Still, everybody wearing the Bobcat name will want to win now and do much better than last year's 10-22 mark.
"We lost five seniors, and one transferred back home," said Krumdieck. "I knew about mid-season last year we were going to have a brand new team for 2022. There were five returners who were working out in the spring semester, and they worked really hard. But we had five. There wasn't a lot of volleyball happening. A lot of lifting and conditioning."
Getting prepared for the fall season brought additional challenges to the Bobcats. One player just arrived on campus last week. In addition to Rachel Machoven, a hitter from Flagler, Miranda Hardin transferred from another Peach Belt school, Lander, as a sophomore defensive specialist. Two junior college players from Snead State, Brooke Roberts and Kyeli Hazzard — both sophomores — also join the club at varying roles.
"We're trying to figure out how everyone's working," said Krumdieck. "How do we communicate. We got shut down halfway through preseason with COVID. We had a five-day break. We had some things planned, but we're adapting. A lot of teamwork drills run by them, not so much coach-initiated, so they can figure out how to keep the ball in play and communicate."
The role of leader would seem to fall on a former Middle Tennessee State transfer, hitter Ally Hall from Lambert High in Cumming. She brings back the most stats from 2021 with 356 kills, 26 aces and 406 digs.
"She had a great first year here," said Krumdieck. "We lean on her a lot to set the tone. 'You're going to be the one they're going to listen to. You were on the court so much last year.' She's doing a great job. Being a leader's very hard. She went from being one of the youngest to the oldest overnight."
Machovec can help with that, though, for she led Flagler in kills last year with 230 while adding 25 digs and 27 service aces. She is from Mill Creek High School.
So the Bobcats have all the skills.
"We're just trying to figure out how those pieces are fitting together," said Krumdieck. "Our focus is on making sure the very first contact we make is a good ball so we can run our offense."
On Aug. 26-27 at the Centennial Center, Georgia College volleyball hosts the Bobcat Classic, where it will play Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. vs. West Virginia State, then two matches Aug. 27 vs. Limestone at noon and Southern Wesleyan at 4 p.m. The coach said this presents a manageable challenge, but the most important part of it is playing at home for the first time since November.
The non-conference season includes some Gulf Coast Conference matches against West Georgia and Valdosta State in Carrollton.
Krumdieck is honest about where Georgia College stands this year among the Peach Belt Conference.
"I don't think we're ready to crack the top yet," she said. "It's attainable, but we're so young. I think in a year or two is when we're going to make a big push. I see us being in the top half, making some waves."
