Women's Volleyball | August 24, 2017
"Good is the enemy of great." It's a famous quote by James C. Collins from his best-selling business book Good to Great. The Western Michigan volleyball team and head coach Colleen Munson have adopted it for the upcoming 2017 season.
The Broncos bring a young squad into this season with the addition of six freshmen and a sophomore junior college transfer. Combined with the five sophomores, the team is left with only three healthy upperclassmen: seniors Olivia Kofie and Sydney LeMay and junior Mary Murphy.
Despite the discrepancy of experience, LeMay is confident heading into her final season with the "Good is the enemy of great" motto that is shortened on their wristbands to #GEG17.
"I think we've been good," LeMay says. "We've dabbled with great the past three years I've been here. We started saying this during our spring season as a motto for the team because we were tired of being good. We want to be great. We want greatness. We don't want to be good or average. We want to be the best and be the best consistently."
Munson echoed LeMay's sentiment, "Greatness is not something we have seen consistently from a team that she has been on. Her freshman year we came along as a team late and won the MAC Tournament. She knew she had some tremendous teammates around that year and now she's working to be that teammate that can help make her team great."
Kofie and Mary are helping her on the path to greatness. LeMay and Kofie have been working with the new middle blockers and the young outside hitters as well.
"Syd and Liv are two great middle blockers that have been three-year starters and the challenge they face is developing the young talent next to them," Munson explained. "Although they have been successful players for our team and our program, their roles in developing players has evolved and changed. The young players look to them for guidance on a day-to-day basis."
Those young players got their first taste of college action in an exhibition against Ferris State last Friday. Munson played all 13 players, with all six freshmen and sophomore junior college transfer Kennedy Potts all seeing significant action. Freshman outside hitter Rachel Bontrager finished with 12 kills, while Kaley Smith finished tied for the team-lead in digs with 19. Playing time will be up for grabs with holes created by the graduating seniors from last season and preseason injuries to junior Bailey Schnell and senior Sydney Cheatham. Even with the injuries, the two have maintained leadership roles but this time off the court.
"Bailey and Syd have totally embraced their roles, but as off the court leaders" said LeMay. "They have an interesting perspective. Liv, Mary and I can't see the things they see when they watch our practices. They give really important feedback to the younger players when we are working with everyone and are doing a really great job at that."
Western Michigan begins its search for greatness on Friday at against Tennessee at the DISH Tennessee Classic. The match can be seen live on ESPN3.com and on the SEC + Network. The Broncos play George Washington at 10 a.m. on Saturday and then Wofford College later at 4:30 p.m. to wrap up the tournament.
