Golden Panthers travel upstate for UCF Challenge

 

By: Eduardo Almaguer / Staff Writer

After every point the Panthers score in the middle of a game, the team quickly huddles up in the middle of the court, cheers loudly and gets ready for the next serve.

These constant short bursts of energy help boost the team spirit and keep the crowd on their toes waiting for the very next point their home team scores.

Surprisingly enough, however, the players themselves point out that energy is something the team desperately needs to work on. It is possibly their biggest priority heading into the UCF Challenge this weekend where FIU (6-3, 0-0 SBC) faces off against Jacksonville (7-5, conference) and either University of Central Florida (8-3, 0-0 C-USA) or University of Texas at El Paso (6-2, 0-0 WAC).

Andrea Lakovic, captain of the seniors and usually the most vocal in practice, knows that time to work on the team’s energy is waning.

“Our [Sun Belt Conference] season starts next week,” said Lakovic. “We have to work on our energy now instead of in November.”

“We need to show more energy on the court. That would really help us to not be stressed out,” said junior Rachel Fernandez.

Head Coach Danijela Tomic was pleased at the fact that her team is aware that this is an issue. She knows that the they can be very energetic during certain points in the game, but many times and almost exclusively after taking a 2-0 lead in a match, their energy just flat lines.

After taking the lead 2-0 on Friday night against Tulane, the Panthers allowed them to come back and push the match to five sets. On Sunday, against a team that was 0-7 going into the game, the team easily took a 2-0-match lead. In the third set, however, they played the majority of the game from behind until a late dramatic run gave them the win.

So how do you fix energy on the court?

“Communication,” said Tomic bluntly. “Talking to each other when things are not going our way. When the other team is putting pressure on us, we cannot become quiet.”

The current lack of communication and energy has convinced Tomic that her team is simply not enjoying the game of volleyball.

“I want to see the team really enjoy playing. I just think they’re not showing that,” said Tomic.  “I told them I base my decisions on their behavior. I don’t see some of them playing like they’re enjoying it.”

Despite this, Tomic and her team know that they have all the cogs to power up a winning machine. With rising stars, like Junior Jovana Bjelica who is second in the conference with 4.28 kills per set and Middle Blocker Sabrina Gonzalez, third in the conference with 1.19 blocks per set, it is not in their system to lose.

“I’m always confident in my team. I believe in them,” said Lakovic. “They need to believe in themselves that they can do it. If everyone gets a little bit out of her comfort zone, we’ll be fine.”

The UCF Challenge will definitely pose as just that: a challenge. With all possible opponents owning records well over .500, any loss of energy in game can very well cost them the match.

Junior Marija Prsa has already set her sights, as well as the teams, on their goal.  “We need to really kill those two teams, 3-0, and play our game not theirs,” added Prsa.