ABOVE VIDEO:Volleyball Titans 2015 Media Day – the Eastern Florida State College women’s volleyball team competes in the NJCAA and the FCSAA.
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – In her second season as Eastern Florida volleyball head coach and her first with all her own recruits Andrea Rasmussen has set high expectations.
Hoping to build on the momentum from a 16-16 overall finish in 2014 Rasmussen will field a team of four returnees and nine newcomers, seven of them freshmen.
“It gives us room for improvement this year,” Rasmussen said of the 2014 season. “It gives us a good stepping stone, a good segue and it gives us a lot of room to keep moving up this year.”
And moving up will be necessary given the goals Rasmussen has set.
Andrea Rasmussen
“I think my expectations moving forward are definitely an improvement on our record,” Rasmussen said.
“I really would like to see us at the state tournament obviously and I think that’s definitely well within our grasp this year.”
“Just continued improvement from our athletes and showing we’re going to work hard and we’ll improve each game and each time we step on the floor,” said Rasmussen.
Returning are right side hitter Treasure Ingram from Fort Pierce, Florida; middle blocker Lena Kaelberer from Stuttgart, Germany, both 2014 FCSAA All-Southern Conference second-team selections; middle blocker Juliana Torres from Joinville SC, Brazil and defensive specialist Lindsey Whittington from Sebring, Florida.
Hoping to build on the momentum from a 16-16 overall finish in 2014 EFSC head volleyball coach Andrea Rasmussen will field a team of four returnees and nine newcomers, seven of them freshmen. (EFSC Image)
Adding experience as sophomore transfers are Mariana Dal Pozzo, an outside and right side hitter from 2014 national champion Blinn College in Brenham, Texas and Toledo PR Brazil and Brooke Davis, a setter from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Freshmen are Megan Graefe, a libero and defensive specialist from Greeley, Colorado; Avarie Lewis a libero and defensive specialist from Palm Harbor, Florida; Mariah Menke an outside and right side hitter from Port St. Lucie, Florida; Keishla Machado, a setter from Cidra, Puerto Rico; Myrlena Pagan Luna, a setter from Carolina, Puerto Rico; and Alondra Modesto, a middle blocker and right side from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Looking forward I think we have a good base underneath us, we have a good passing and defensive base and I think that will allow us to run different options,” Rasmussen said.
“But a lot of it is being able to mesh the new players with the ones we have returning.”
The schedule will test Rasmussen’s goals. The Titans open with two matches on Saturday at Lake-Sumter State College and face four more road matches before hosting Daytona State College at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Hoping to build on the momentum from a 16-16 overall finish in 2014 EFSC head volleyball coach Andrea Rasmussen will field a team of four returnees and nine newcomers, seven of them freshmen. (EFSC Image)
The Titans have 14 home appearances at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus.
Admission to Titans home matches is free.
The Titans open Southern Conference play at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15 hosting Indian River State College.
The conference, as usual includes 2014 national runner-up and 28-time defending conference champion Miami Dade College which visits at 6 p.m. Sept. 22.
The top two conference teams advance to the NJCAA Region 8/FHSAA Tournament. Eastern Florida finished third in conference last season with a 4-4 record, one victory shy of qualifying for a shot at the tournament.
Two of the Titans home matches will be televised live on WEFS-TV and streamed live on the Internet. They are the Sept. 15 match against Indian River State and the 2 p.m. Oct. 3 non-conference match with St. Johns River State College.
