Throughout the 2017 preseason, VolleyMob.com will be joined by guest writers from last year’s Top 25 teams as well as other award winners and All-Americans. These bloggers will give you an inside look at their teams, preseason training, team leadership and much more.
Three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Tim Horsmon is in his ninth season at the University of Dayton and has led the Flyers to seven NCAA Tournament berths including each of the last three years. His UD teams also have won the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championships each of the last three seasons since his return to the helm.
The 2016 Flyers went 30-2, including a 14-0 mark in A-10 play and an NCAA first round appearance. Horsmon returns an experienced roster in 2017 with all seven starters back on the court and six other returning letterwinners, including A-10 Libero of the Year Margo Wolf and A-10 Setter of the Year Jane Emmenecker. The team also added three newcomers to its ranks.
Dayton is set to face eight NCAA Tournament foes in 2017, including Northern Illinois, High Point, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Western Kentucky and Ohio State.
The team kicks off its 2017 campaign at the Northern Illinois Invitational against High Point, NIU and Cal Poly.
Coach Horsmon’s take on his team, its schedule and potential are below.
Our program has had an eventful and productive two weeks of preseason. We have improved individually and think we have a solid grasp of our offensive and defensive systems. Having the majority of our team returning has obviously made that transition from summer to preparing for match play much smoother.
We have a very close group of athletes, and having this much time together on and off the court is always fun and a great opportunity to learn more about each other.
We also commit a great deal of time working with our performance coach improving chemistry, mental training, leadership, and goal setting. I believe this commitment has paid great dividends the past three years and expect continued growth in these areas.
We have a challenging 2017 schedule, and we are excited to see how we attack the next month or so. The legacy left to us in this program is unique and we take a lot of pride in being part of such a great volleyball history. We are working to continue to grow!
The fun moving forward will be to see who we are when it comes time for our conference championship and hopefully we have another shot to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.
who’s the hottie in blue?????