College Volleyball: ECC looks to gain experience
By Tim Sieck For Sun-Times Media August 29, 2012 10:20PM
Updated: October 1, 2012 5:29PM
Elgin Community College volleyball is in a full rebuilding mode this season, but coach Andy Jaszczurowski thinks the future looks bright for the Spartans.
“We graduated over half of last year’s team so we have a lot more freshmen than sophomores this season,” said Jaszczurowski. “The freshmen are very talented, but will need to adjust to playing at a higher level. We should continue to get better as the season goes on and should have a much better second half of the season.”
The key returning players for ECC this season are sophomores Hannah Graves, Kayla Pflueger and Rachel Peara. Graves is a co-captain outside hitter who played at Westminster Christian. Pfluegger is a middle hitter and co-captain from St. Charles East. Peara is also a co-captain from East Aurora who is an outside hitter.
This year’s freshmen who Jaszczurowski expects to contribute are Ashley Berrios, middle hitter/right side from Streamwood, Megan Roady, defensive specialist from St. Charles East, Andrea Kolylinski, setter from Bartlett, Kassie Rife, libero from Elgin, and Melissa Turkman, defensive specialist from Elgin.
Jaszczurowski is pleased with the work ethic his team has displayed leading up to the season.
“They come to practice and work very hard to better their skill sets,” said Jaszczurowski. “They are learning the complicated offense and I expect to see the fruit of their labors very soon. This group of players seem to get along with each other and no one puts themselves above anybody else on the team.
“They do everything as a team, as it should be. The blend of the returning sophomores and the influx of the new blood freshmen should pay big dividends later in the year.”
