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.
Utah outside hitter Adora Anae, who was a second team All-American and first team All-Pac-12 honoree a year ago, shares about the team’s European Tour, gym culture and roster makeup.
The senior paced the Utes with 4.70 kills per set, while hitting at a .250 clip and adding a team-best 34 aces and 3.23 digs per set in 2016. The Punaluu, Hawaii, native racked up a school record 592 kills en route to becoming the first Utah player to tally multiple 500 kill efforts in her career. Anae, the record holder single match kills with 31, managed double-digit kill tallies in 31 matches, including 20 or more in 15 matches.
The No. 23 Utes are ranked in the preseason for the first time in two years after going 20-12 including an NCAA Tournament berth in 2016. The squad will be challenged on its road back to the postseason, taking on 10 Top 25 teams this year, including No. 10 BYU, No. 14 Kentucky, No. 19 Missouri, No. 20 Hawaii and No. 22 San Diego before beginning Pac-12 play.
Utah kicks off its 2017 campaign in Lexington, Kentucky, facing Cincinnati, Arkansas State and the host No. 14 Wildcats at the Bluegrass Battle. The Utes will have eight newcomers on the roster, while Anae and fellow seniors Tawnee Luafalemana and Carly Trueman will guide the ship.
Anae’s inside look at the 2017 Utes is below.
Hey Ute Fans!
I hope you are all a excited for this season as we are! This past summer, we have been working extremely hard to reach our goals this season. We had a chance to compete at a very high level in Europe this past June and have been to some really cool places. We travelled to the Czech Republic into Venice, Italy, Rome, and Austria. We were so grateful for the amazing experience we had to learn of new cultures and experience international play.
Heading into fall camp, we are half way in and already seeing huge improvements. We are focusing on all aspects of the game this week as to all skills. This next week, we will be working more on our system and team work. We have 7 new comers and they are competing really well as the rest of the team. The atmosphere in the gym is at a very high level and we are only getting closer to our goals.
The most exciting thing heading into this season is that we will have a deep bench offering a lot of talent from all positions. We are excited to compete everyday in the gym and bring out the best in this squad. Today, Saturday, is our off day and so as a team we are relaxing and getting some of the last summer rays before we get down to business.
We are excited to start competing in the Huntsman Center and to see you all there! Bring everyone out because this season will be one for the books! GO UTES!
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