University of Houston Athletics
Houston Volleyball Wraps Up First Week of Practice
8/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 15, 2008
HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team wrapped up the first week of practice this week in preparation for the season opener on Aug. 29 against Marquette at the Marquette Kickoff Tournament.
The Cougars spent the week practicing at the Athletics/Alumni Center and head coach Bill Walton was impressed with the progress that was made in the first week.
"I was impressed with how good the defense was considering we didn't do much on defense. Defense usually takes a long time but when we started scrimmaging the defense looked pretty good," Walton said.
"We reached a really high level in the springtime and there have been flashes of spring already in the first week. I am optimistic. We don't start the season until the end of the month so it gives us an extra week to practice that we didn't have last year."
We are excited that the whole team is here and ready to go, so we are really looking forward to the next two weeks."
The Cougars return senior Justine Farmer, a 2007 Conference USA First Team. She led the team last season in kills (606) and is the school career record holder in kills (1,666) and attack attempts (4,587).
Kelsey King will also be back for her final season after leading Houston in assists (683) a year ago. Joining Farmer and King will be juniors Erin Rice and Kinsey Cave. They will be relied upon for leadership along with sophomores Lucy Charuk and Amanda Carson as the Cougars add seven newcomers to the roster.
The 2008 season begins Aug. 29-30 at the Marquette Kickoff Tournament. The Cougars will spend the first three weekends of the season on the road before returning home for the home opener on Sept. 17 against Lamar at 7 p.m.
