By MARLON SCOTT | Senior Staff Writer

When looking at the Lady Govs 2010 volleyball team from the outside, it is hard to ignore what is missing.

Last season the Lady Govs earned a 22-8 regular season record, their second 20-win season in a row, with OVC Player of the Year Stephanie Champine and new head coach Mike Johnson.

This season, both of those people are gone.

With these missing pieces in mind, the rest of the OVC’s coaches and sports information directors, looking from the outside, picked the 2010 Lady Govs to finish sixth in the preseason poll.

However, new head coach Haley Janicek and the three seniors on the team — Jessica Mollman, Taylor Skinner and Sarah Alisaleh — are on the inside and excited about what they see.

Janicek is the third Lady Govs volleyball coach in three years. Last season she was Johnson’s assistant coach. According to APSU Sports Information, Janicek was not surprised about the team’s preseason ranking.

“The sixth seed ranking was expected after losing our senior class. It speaks very highly of them and how important they were to our success,” Janicek said. “However, we had an incredibly productive spring and got better across the board. Our staff is extremely encouraged and has full confidence that our team will be successful this fall.”

Expected to lead the team in their success are seniors Skinner, Mollman and Taylor. Each has been with the team through all the coaching changes and agreed this last one has not slowed any of the team’s momentum heading into the season.

“It was actually easier to transition from Mike to Haley than it was from coach Hazelwood to Mike because the system is still the same. The offense, defense, everything is still the same, just a new coach,” Alisaleh said. “As a team we are buying into her. We are excited and behind her all the way,” Skinner said.

Alisaleh and Mollman received All-OVC recognition last year. Alisaleh is the team’s leader in assists and is currently ranked third all time in the category. Skinner was second on the team last season with 33 serving aces. Both she and Mollman will start this season with 193 blocks. Only six players in school history have produced more than 200 career blocks.

All three seniors agree the team has had an excellent preseason. They are looking forward to playing in the first tournament of the regular season, the MSU Maroon Classic held in Starkville, Miss. The tournament’s host is coached by Lady Govs former coach Jenny Hazelwood.

“We have actually had the best preseason yet, I think. In all four years this is the best preseason we have had,” Alisaleh said. “Everyone has actually meshed together really well. Even our freshmen are catching on.”

Mollman is looking forward to facing her old coach.

“We worked harder and we worked smarter, so I am really excited,” Mollman said. “It’s definitely going to be a good match. There will be some feelings in there, some emotion. It’s going to feel good either way just to play her, see where she’s at. It’s cool that she gets to see where we are at too.”

Regardless of the storylines associated with all the new changes, the seniors said the team is focused on winning.

“I think everyone has high expectations and we have an extra drive to win this year,” Alisaleh said. TAS

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