The Nicole Lantagne-Welch era of UCSB women?s volleyball begins today.
The new coach opens her first ?official? training camp three weeks before the Gauchos kick off their 2013 season against Stanford at the Thunderdome on Aug. 30.
UCSB Athletic Director Mark Massari, left, welcomes new women’s volleyball coach Nicole Lantagne-Welch to Santa Barbara in February. (UCSB Photo)
Welch, who comes from Miami, takes over the program that the legendary Kathy Gregory ran for the last 38 years. Gregory announced her retirement in January.
When she greets her players for their practice, Lantagne-Welch will have several returnees among the group. That?s a lot different from her first day at Miami.
?When I got to Miami I literally started from scratch. There were no players in the program; the program didn?t exist. I had to have a tryout on campus to find people,? she recalled. ?Here, I have a team in place, so we?re starting in a better starting spot, for sure.
?The returning players have been open to changes and very good to work with,? she added. ?That, along with the new players, makes this a very exciting time for us.?
Among the returnees is outside hitter Leah Sully, the team?s leader in kills last season. She?s the team captain and one of three seniors on the squad.
?Leah is a very experienced, all-around player, She?s definitely somebody the team will look for,? the coach said.
The others seniors are opposite Katey Thompson and new libero Kara Sherrard. She played at outside hitter last season.
?She?s one of the best passers on the team and (playing libero) certainly magnifies her strengths more,? Lantagne-Welch said of Sherrard. ?As an outside hitter, she was already passing and playing defense.?
Taylor Formico, last year?s libero who was named the Big West Freshman of the Year after setting the conference digs record and leading the nation in digs, left the program but remains at the school, according to her father, Mike.
?Taylor has moved on and we wish her well,? Lantagne-Welch said. ?We?re here with a bunch of committed players and I prefer to talk about them because they?re all about UCSB Gauchos and what we?re doing here with the volleyball program.?
On the transition in coaching staffs, Lantagne-Welch said the remaining veterans have handled it well.
?As far as working with the team and trying to put a new system in place, they?ve really embraced what we?re trying to do. They?re very eager to give it their all,? she said.
In her system, Lantagne-Welch wants to see the ball spread around to all the attackers.
?We absolutely want balance and to be more unpredictable. That?s what we?re working toward,? she said. ?Everybody is pretty happy about that. Our outside hitters are excited about it. They don?t want to take a million swings every night.?
She?s told the players that every position will be up for grabs during their two-a-day practices.
That should make for some intense training sessions.
?Everything is wide open for every spot. We tell them to go out and fight for it,? she said ?We want our players to be pushing each other to get better every day.?
On opening the season against a perennial power like Stanford, Lantagne-Welch welcomes the challenge.
?We have an incredibly tough first opponent, but that?s exciting, too. We?re going to know a lot about ourselves right from the start and that?s something that?s good. It?s going to help us improve.?
