Fall Sports Player Preview: Wrapping up the Volleyball roster

The individual player preview posts are done, and team-wide previews for UB's fall Olympic Sports will start running Monday. Over the weekend we'll tie up the in-between: the student-athletes who went unmentioned in the individual posts over the last six weeks.

First up is volleyball, who has a small enough roster and large enough freshman class that we've actually covered everybody but one. Tessa Ooyama made an appearance in the post on UB's returning servers. And while service was the biggest part of her game in 2014, meriting her regular appearance in 113 of the season's 116 sets, she was the only freshman other than Niki Bozinoski to earn playing time from the beginning of the season. Her 38 digs are not a very big number, as she was used in a relatively specialized role, but her 18 aces were good for fourth on the team.

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As three of UB's fall teams also have new coaches, I'll briefly run through them this weekend, too. Volleyball of course has an entirely new staff behind Blair Brown Lipsitz. Scott Smith comes to UB from an assistant's role at Georgia Southern, where he helped the Eagles to over 20 wins a season, two Southern Conference championships, and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. Prior to Georgia Southern, he served as a high school and club coach near his Northern Virginia hometown.

Adam McLamb has a short coaching career, coming to UB after one season at UT-Chattanooga and a club playing career at Vermont and Radford. Like Lipsitz and Smith, he also has experience coaching a club program, in this case in Virginia Beach.

The most distinguished of Lipsitz' staff, though, is Volunteer Assistant Angie McGinnis-Hasseman. UB may be a bit fortunate, here, as McGinnis-Hasseman is married to current UB Wrestling assistant Bryce Hasseman and like Lipsitz already lived in the Area. McGinnis-Hasseman has just three years of coaching experience at the Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club, but enjoyed a playing career that saw her earn SEC Player of the Year honors twice and thrice find a spot as a First Team All-American.

It's a different strategy for Lipsitz than fellow first-time collegiate coach Nate Oats, who found long experience in Jim Whitesell for his staff, but for the new coach its also a staff with experience at the collegiate, high school, and club and camps levels.

Once again, full Volleyball team preview is coming Monday. Go Bulls