Tomic talking tough to struggling team

By: Eduardo Almaguer / Staff Writer

“We need to. We need to. We need to.” Talk to any of the players on the volleyball team and they will tell you that they need to do many things.

They need to be focused. They need to practice harder. They need to communicate. They need to stop making errors.

Head coach Danijela Tomic only has one: “We need to win.”

After a weekend where they did not win a single set against Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky, the FIU volleyball squad had a mandatory team meeting on Tuesday where Tomic put her team on the map and told them where they were.

Her message was not a sweet one.

“I’m not sure that all of our players really understand what Division I volleyball is and how hard they have to work and where their heart and commitment has to be,” said Tomic. “I’m afraid this team is getting in the habit of losing and they’re becoming okay with it.”

FIU has dropped four of their last five matches, plunging their conference record to under .500 for the first time all season with a 3-4 SBC record.

While they showed marginal improvement against MT and WKU as opposed to the first time they played them, they still returned home with two losses hanging over their heads.

While no player will claim that they are lacking desire, the message Tomic delivered was not an easy one to swallow.

“It was a hard message. As an athlete, to be told that you don’t care or that you’re not working hard is like a dagger to the heart,” said redshirt freshman Jessica Egan.

Tomic said that if she could, she would jump in the games and help her team win because they are not getting the job done themselves.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any eligibility left,” said Tomic. “I can only submit the lineup card.”

One of the changes in that lineup is Egan as the new setter for the team, because a quad injury that redshirt junior Renele Forde sustained last week in practice will keep her out for an undetermined amount of time. Egan has stepped into the role. On Oct. 16’s loss to WKU, she posted a respectable 33 assists.

“I thought she did an excellent job setting wise,” said Tomic. “I was very pleased with the choices she made and how she ran the team. It’s her job to lose right now.”

The turning point of the season begins tonight against Arkansas State, the leaders of the West division in the Sun Belt Conference. With only four weeks left in the season, FIU embarks on their longest home stand of the season, a five-game trek all against conference opponents.

Three of the five teams the Panthers will face are cellar dwellers in their division. Of FAU, Troy and South Alabama, FIU has already beat FAU once.

The implications this weekend has on their playoff hopes have been drilled into the players’ heads.

“What we have now is a little problem,” said outside hitter Jovana Bjelica.

“If we lose this weekend, we’re going to have a big problem.”