After months of practice and preparation, the wait is over. The ASU volleyball team travels to Dayton, Ohio this weekend to kick off the 2010 season.
The Sun Devils will compete in the Dayton Flyer Classic, which will feature five teams from around the country.
ASU will face a trio of opponents who are coming off successful 2009 seasons, starting with Western Michigan on Friday afternoon.
Western Michigan is fresh off a 24-win season and a third straight Mid-American Conference West championship.
The Broncos enter the new year looking to keep winning with an abundance of new players.
ASU coach Jason Watson is eager to see what the new additions to the Bronco lineup bring to the court.
“We have been prepping for them for a while now,” Watson said. “There are a lot of unknowns with them. They graduated a lot of athletes and certainly a significant amount of their offense. One of the things they do is they have this wonderful and rich history of success in their conference and in their non-conference.”
After the matchup with the Broncos, ASU will move on to battle the hosts of the tournament, Dayton, on Saturday. The No. 21 Flyers enjoyed a 2009 season in which they earned an impressive 30 wins and a NCAA tournament berth.
Dayton will likely have a little extra motivation this season, thanks to the NCAA.
“They are hosting a regional this year so there is a lot of added motivation for them to ensure that they put themselves in a position to get to that region,” Watson said. “Their coach is a good friend and he is a very talented coach. That is going to pose a nice test for us early.”
While Watson values his friendship with Dayton coach Kelly Sheffield, he hopes the Sun Devils can repeat their success against the Flyers.
“They were here two years ago and we were fortunate enough to be successful here when they came to our place,” Watson said. “It’ll be interesting; they do a lot of things different than us and a lot of things different than some schools in the Pac-10.”
ASU closes out the tournament with a Sunday afternoon matchup against Virginia Commonwealth, who received a third place ranking in the Colonial Athletic Association preseason poll.
VCU made it all the way to the CAA championship match in 2009, where they suffered a heartbreaking five-set defeat at the hands of George Mason.
The Sun Devils will have their hands full with the youthful Rams squad.
“There are a lot of unknowns with them too,” Watson said. “They had some graduation coming through. We are fortunate we play them Sunday, and we are going to get some opportunities to look at them before we go play.”
While the Sun Devils will encounter three challenging opponents, the pieces are in place for a successful opening weekend.
“Every day in practice we work on serve-serve receive, passing, and just playing better as a team, not playing as individuals but more as a team,” ASU senior libero Sarah Johnson said. “We all know what we have to do. We just have to put it together.”
Watson hopes that ASU’s three matchups this weekend will provide a strong indication of where they stand heading into the new season.
“We have identified some things that we need to go get better at,” Watson said. “Until you go play someone else, you really don’t know if you are spending time in the right areas. I think we all are more than ready to get on the road and see where we are at.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
