By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Fort Hays State University volleyball is hosting the Tiger Invitational today and tomorrow to start off the season. This tournament is a preparation tournament for conference games, but the results will be recognised for the overall record of the participating teams.
In addition to FHSU, participating teams include Northwest Missouri State University, Cameron University, Rockhurst University, Arkansas State University, and Kansas Wesleyan University. The Gross Memorial Coliseum will host this tournament with a packed schedule over the two game days. Games will begin at 9 a.m., with five games each day, and will kick off with the last game each day at 7 p.m.
This tournament will be hosting a mixture of teams from different conferences, and only two MIAA teams, Northwest Missouri and FHSU. As each team will play four games overall, there will not be an MIAA matchup this time. The Tigers will match up against Cameron and Arkansas Tech today and against Kansas Wesleyan and Rockhurst on Saturday.
FHSU Head Coach Jessica Wood-Atkins said that having no MIAA matchup is a chance to test the players against a different environment than usual.
“We see enough of the conference during the regular season, so in preseason, we’re trying to expand and see people outside of our conference,” she said. “Unfortunately, we don’t always get to select who comes until we open up the invite and we see who wants to participate. But we’re trying to get a blend of people from different conferences, and just to kind of expand our play.”
With two games each day, this tournament is an opportunity for the players who don’t get to play too often to leave their mark and gain a spot on the playing squad for the regular season.
However, for Wood-Atkins, it’s more important to see the freshmen constantly performing well in practice in order to gain credit.
“They earn their opportunities in practice,” she said. “That’s where they earn their opportunities. And so we keep track of their stats consistently, so we can see where they’re trending and where people are in the depth chart. But if they get the opportunity, what we’re seeing, what we’re looking for is how efficient they can be against the MIAA and how quickly they can get adjusted and get over kind of those nerves that all freshmen experience.”
For the new players to perform well over the first few games of the season, it’s crucial that they have the help and guidance from the more experienced players on the team.
Tallon Rentschler serves as a graduate student assistant after spending four years in the program. She spoke about the opportunity to lead the team and how important it is for her.
“It is such a privilege, because I feel like I was just a freshman, and I was nervous, just being in a new school, being in college, in general, was just nerve-racking to me,” she said. “But now, having this been my fourth year, I’m thankful that I can do it, because I know that it’s just an opportunity to bring new people in. And I’m really thankful that I can be a leader in that aspect.”
Rentschler also added on how the team prepares for the tournament and for the matchups against unfamiliar opponents.
“Since we don’t really know them, we can’t really scout them, but we’re just doing our stuff in the gym. We’re really trying to focus on just us this year, and not so much worrying about what other teams are doing, just like really focusing in on our team and like how we can do better, because then once we get our stuff done, everything’s gonna take care of itself,” she said. “We’re just doing everything we can to sharpen our game and stay together while doing it.”
FHSU plays today at 2 p.m. against Cameron and at 7 p.m. against Arkansas Tech. The Tigers play again tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Kansas Wesleyan and against Rockhurst at 7 p.m. All games take place inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.