Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles didn’t hesitate to describe the offseason after being ousted in the first round of last season’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

“Miserable,” Cowles said. “I’ve never experienced that.”

Last season marked the first time the Lady Toppers have missed postseason play during Cowles’ 10-year tenure.

The current squad is ready to leave last season’s disappointment behind Cowles said.

“Last year wasn’t a lot of fun, but it’s over with,” Cowles said. “We really don’t like talking about it, to be honest with you.”

Senior forward Dominique Duck said that the team’s two exhibition games have helped the players accept that they’re beginning with a clean slate this season.

“It was a relief to just get out there and realize that it is a new year, a new season, and all of that’s behind us,” Duck said.

Duck said the team’s commitment to improving on last season can be seen in the fact that all but two players were in Bowling Green for the summer, as opposed to past years when a majority of the roster wouldn’t arrive until July.

Senior forward Jessica Magley said the learning curve for the Lady Toppers will be much smaller this year because the team lost no players from last season.

“We’re further along than we were last year because of the fact that we’ve got great leadership, and we’re all on the same page now,” Magley said.

While the team thinks it can’t get hung up on the past, Duck said that she personally won’t be able to forget last season’s 16-13 record.

“I’m excited to play a lot of the teams that I feel we should have beat last year,” she said. “That’s my driving force. It’s like, OK, you beat us last year. Well, I can’t wait until we see you this year.”

With all the talk of improving on last season, the Lady Toppers are adamant that the past isn’t the only thing inspires them.

“We use everything as motivation,” Magley said. “The other team walks into the gym and is laughing too loud, that’s motivation — anything to get us going, really.”

While it could be easy for the team to become too centered on redeeming themselves last season, Cowles said the Lady Toppers have done a good job of keeping things in perspective thus far.

“This time of year isn’t a whole lot of fun for student athletes,” Cowles said. “They’re ready to play, but I think our young ladies have continued to maintain that focus and that intensity.”

Errors proved costly for the Lady Toppers volleyball team this weekend as they fell to 1-2 at the season-opening Tennessee Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn.

Western lost to Lipscomb 3-0 (23-25, 17-25, 25-17) and Tennessee 3-2 (25-18, 15-25, 22-25, 25-23, 12-15) on Saturday, but rebounded to defeat Tennessee Tech 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-18) on Sunday morning.

“We struggled a good portion of the weekend,” head coach Travis Hudson said. “We were very nervous and seemed to have no rhythm.”
Western combined for 39 errors in their two Saturday games, with 27 of those coming against Tennessee. The team committed 16 errors in Sunday’s win.

One bright spot for the team was freshmen libero Sarah Rogers, who led Western with 21 kills in both of Saturday’s games, her first two contests as a Hilltopper.

“Sarah Rogers may have had the best weekend of any Hilltopper,” Hudson said. “She’s a competitor, and she seemed to get the jitters off early.”

Hudson said he thought the team improved in their game against Tennessee, ranked no. 40 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll.

Western took the home team to five sets before being defeated.

Rogers said the Lady Toppers came back on Sunday with something to prove against Tennessee Tech.

“It was crucial for us to leave the tournament with a win to build our confidence,” Rogers said.

Western controlled the game from start to finish and managed to win their first game of the season, aided by a team-high 15 kills from senior middle hitter Brittany Bowen.

“(The win) showed character and showed who we are as a team,” Bowen said.
Sophomore Lauren Stuckel had 29 assists in the finale, which gave her 28 or more assists in each game of the weekend.

Western travels to Nashville to face Belmont (0-4) at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The Bruins were picked to finish second in the Atlantic Sun Conference’s preseason coaches poll.