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.
Florida outside hitter Carli Snyder offers a look at the team’s drive to win after falling short in 2016, her amazing teammates and their gym culture. Snyder earned her second straight AVCA Honorable Mention All-America selection in 2016, after ranking second on the team in points per set (4.00), including 3.60 kills per set, a .295 hitting percentage, 2.69 digs per set and 21 aces. The Macomb, Michigan, native posted 10 double-doubles and 23 double-digit kill efforts en route to All-SEC honors. She also made good on 97 percent of her 548 serve reception chances.
No. 12 Florida, which went 27-4 tied for the SEC league title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round, were picked by the conference’s coaches to repeat for the title. The Gators will look to a roster of nine upperclassmen, including six seniors, to lead the team through a tough slate, including matches against five Top 25 teams in non-conference play alone. Joining Snyder are third team All-American middle Rhamat Alhassan, honorable mention All-Americans Caroline Knop and Allie Monserez and SEC All-Freshman Team honoree Rachael Kramer. The team also added two talented freshmen to its ranks.
Florida opens its 2017 season at the Nike Challenge at home in Gainesville against No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Nebraska.
Below is Snyder’s take on the Gators’ preseason so far.
Hello! My name is Carli Snyder and I am a senior outside hitter at the University of Florida.
When asked to write a short blog post about a group of people, especially a team, there is pressure that comes with it. This will be a rather clumsy attempt to do a fantastic group of people justice using my words.
Since last season (I would rather not revisit how it ended), our team has grown and matured. We had nine new players a year ago, and there were a lot of learning opportunities—for both upperclassmen and newcomers.
This past spring and summer allowed us to grow as volleyball players and, more importantly, continue to build the culture of the program. I am going to skip over almost everything from this past January to June, because that was last year’s team. But, it is important to note that last year’s freshman class (now sophomores) made huge strides during that time. We added two new players to a roster full of veterans this summer.
One of the coolest parts about this summer is that, since we only gained two freshmen, we’ve been able to build on the unique closeness our group developed last year.
I have personally enjoyed getting to know the two new players, and in the process I learned new things about almost everyone on the team. A little over a week into preseason, doing this for a fourth time now, I realized this is the time of year where a team decides what they’re going to be about.
I am so excited to play with this group. It’s one of the most unselfish teams I have ever been on. There is coaching within the group and the culture is controlled by the players, which has been such a cool area of growth over the last year.
We have several places to get better before our season opener, but I can say for sure that there is no one else I would rather be beside than this staff and team. Go Gators!
Leave a Reply