Volleyball Ready to Open Spring 2021 Campaign

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Coker University volleyball team is ready to start its 2021 campaign this week, in Travis Nead's second season as head coach.

Nead sets his expectations for this year knowing he has a fair amount of new talent on the roster, with some players with quality experience returning.

"I want to see this team compete hard every game," said Nead. "We really want to gain experience and momentum with each match since we do have a lot of newcomers this year and will not have anyone graduating from this group. This should allow us to continue to build up Coker volleyball for years to come. I think you will see a group ready and excited to get back on the court."

Coker returns eight players to its roster for this season, all of which gained valuable experience a season ago.

"I'm excited to see the growth of our returning players," said Nead. "A big contribution that I'm looking to this group for is leadership. Our returners know this conference and they know it is a battle each night so I'll be looking to them to provide a steadiness in our game."

Coker also adds seven newcomers to the roster for this upcoming season.

"Our newcomers have already been making a big impact in the way we practice," said Nead. "We are competing hard in practices right now which should translate to competing hard in matches. I expect to see a few make a big impact early in the season."

Nead noted that the returners and newcomers have come together very well, battling the adversity of preparing for a season through COVID-19 restrictions.

"I think mixing all of our players together has been pretty smooth all things considering in Covid," said Nead. "We have focused on building relationships off the court in small groups to help grow our relationships on the court."

Nead also notes that he holds all players to a high standard going into this season.

"I expect all of our players to be ready to go on game day," said Nead. "They have to be ready in the event that quarantine pops up, and it becomes the "next one up" mentality."

Coker starts this season on the road at Newberry (Mar. 4) and Anderson (S.C.) (Mar. 6), before coming home to face Queens (N.C.) on Mar. 9. After a trip to Wingate (Mar. 16), the Cobras return home to face Limestone on Mar. 19 and Lenoir-Rhyne on Mar. 24. The Cobras then go on the road to Tusculum (Mar. 26) and UVA Wise (Mar. 27), before ending the year at home against Catwaba (Mar. 31) and Mars Hill (Apr. 3).

"The first four matches will be a challenge," said Nead. "A tough road contest to start the season, followed by three of the top four preseason poll teams will test us right out of the gate this year. It will be exciting to see how this team responds to great early competition."

The Cobras start the season tomorrow (Thursday, Mar. 4) at Newberry. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.