Putting Power into the ACC
October 09, 2019 | Volleyball, #ForBoston Files
Volleyball is off to its best ACC start after winning its first four matches.
Unscripted moments are often the ones that catch coaches the most off-guard. They are simple stories, lasting only a few seconds, but they leave the biggest, most enduring impact. It's completely unexpected, but when it's retold, it hits all the same over and over again.
For Jason Kennedy, one of those moments came after Boston College volleyball defeated Clemson. It was the Eagles' first win at Jervey Gym since 2006, but the second-year head coach didn't have time to check the history books. He had to ready his team for a quick turnaround trip from South Carolina to Georgia, where it would play at Georgia Tech two days later. That's when an unexpected moment of pride washed through the locker room.
"I was starting to get the team ready to move down to Georgia Tech, trying to just get ready for the next one," he said. "I saw our juniors giggling in the corner (of the locker room), and I asked Clare (Naughton) what was going on. She looked at me and said, 'Well I've never won an ACC road match.' Jane (DeJarld) piped in and said, 'That's only the second one that I've ever won.'"
Two days later, BC beat the Yellow Jackets to record its first weekend road sweep of conference opponents since 2012. Significant by itself, it is wrapped up in a new development within the program, one that can make Eagles from any generation smile as the team enters this weekend with a 13-4 overall record and an unprecedented 4-0 conference start.
"We got that monkey off our back (by getting a road win)," Kennedy said. "Then we went down to play a Georgia Tech team that I think is pretty good. We beat (the Yellow Jackets) in their own place at a time when they were undefeated in their building. It solidified a changing of the guard. We're not talking about not winning on the road. It's all gone."
Its arguably the best start in program history, and it thrust BC into the national volleyball spotlight after a grueling, yet successful, start to the year. The Eagles opened the year with four consecutive weekends of double-day matches, meaning they played three matches over two days. Early-season conflicts limited the availability of on-campus scheduling, forcing every single one of those weekends onto the road.
"We weren't really that good on the road last year," Kennedy said. "We knew we wanted to travel a little bit, and the way the schedule worked out didn't give us much of a choice. We wanted to do the most that we could. We wanted to make ourselves uncomfortable, but we still wanted to find ways to make the offense click and work."
It began with a trip to Oregon to play a weekend set in Eugene. BC rallied from an opening-night loss to Oregon State to defeat UC-Irvine in Saturday's early session, both by 3-0 decisions. It set up the late night match against the host Ducks on Saturday, where Oregon won, 3-0, but watched as the Eagles held tight in the first two sets.
"We played teams that were better than anyone we faced, for the most part, for the better chunk of last year," Kennedy said. "Oregon was healthy and playing well. Oregon State played us well. And we beat UC-Irvine, which might not have seemed like a big deal at the time, but that team has a lot of good pieces. The record is struggling, but that group beat (then-Top Ten) Hawaii on the road, so that win was better than what a lot of people realized."
Everything quickly picked up steam from there. A weekend sweep at UConn of the Huskies, Central Connecticut State and Iona fed into a 2-1 weekend at Florida Atlantic. Wins over Bethune-Cookman and Southern Utah bookended a loss to the host Owls, but it provided the necessary jump to keep momentum back to Massachusetts, where the Eagles beat Harvard. Another two-win weekend primed BC for the start of the conference slate, and it exploded immediately with the road sweep.Â
It was a similar script to last year, when the Eagles swept Clemson and Georgia Tech at home to open conference play. The year unraveled shortly thereafter when the second weekend, against Duke and Wake Forest, touched off seven consecutive losses. Those matches, though, were on the road, and the team used its home debut at Power Gym to unveil a new attitude - and a new outcome.
"I reminded the team of (our 2-0 start last year) before Duke and Wake Forest," Kennedy said. "I talked about the fact that (this year) came back to Power (for those matches)."
On Friday, BC split the first two sets against Duke, winning the first, 25-19, before losing the second, 25-21. The third and fourth sets, though, quickly became a story of Eagle dominance, and the team ripped off consecutive 25-15 results to beat a team that went to the NCAA Tournament last season.
Two days later, BC lost the first set to Wake Forest, 25-20, but rallied to win the next three in a 3-1 victory. It included a hard-fought third set where BC opened up a five-point lead but watched Wake Forest tie the set at 22-22 before kills from Clare Naughton and Jill Strockis ended the threat.
"Neither match was pretty, and I didn't think we played well in the beginning of (either day)," Kennedy said. "We figured it out in the end, but it wasn't like it was a given that we were going to come in and win. This is where things fell apart a little bit last year. The fact that we were able to grind through a slow start and win three of four (sets) in both made me feel like this is a new group. We've turned the corner."
It's a symbolic but important showing that has BC volleyball buzzing both in its sport and on campus. Duke went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and both Clemson and Georgia Tech were invited to compete in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, a postseason tournament on par with basketball's NIT.
"Everyone knows the Duke brand (in volleyball)," Kennedy said. "And both Clemson and Georgia Tech made the NIVC last year. Even though they aren't Top 25 teams, per se, they are still teams that played in some form of postseason tournament last year. So it shows some growth. I think people are starting to notice what we're doing, and there were a good amount of people in Power Gym on Friday night. It was a great atmosphere. It's what we've talked about as coaches that we want to build. If you can play into December, you did something right. We want to grind it out into late November to be playing meaningful matches."
It's the next layer or floor of the construction project undertaken in Boston College volleyball. The team is currently ranked in the top three in the conference in hitting percentage, kills and assists and is fifth in both kills and service aces.
Both Amaka Chukwujekwu and Sophie West are in the top ten in the conference individually in hitting percentage, with the former ranked second. Chukwujekwu is also in the top ten in the league with 1.22 blocks per set, though her total numbers place her third as one of three players over 70 total blocks.
"We are making huge strides," Kennedy said. "We're doing everything I want to incorporate. It's not perfect every night, but it's not going to be, either. The speed of our offense is right where I want it, and the blocking of our defense is vastly improved over a year ago. That's a testament to our assistant coaches, Kin Yun and Marissa Prinzbach.Â
"Kin runs our defense, and what we've done with the blocking is just outstanding," he continued. "When you look at a kid like Amaka, she's in the lead in the ACC, and that's phenomenal for a kid that's maybe six feet tall on her tippy toes. And with Marissa running the offense, we're in the top three in kills per set in the ACC."
It's all part of the vision of the program, and the ongoing success and support for the team is contingent on continuing to develop along those lines. The NCAA released the RPI ratings this week, and the Eagles slotted into No. 112 of 335. They ranked seventh among ACC schools but are only three spots behind Virginia, a team that comes to Power Gym this weekend to open up a huge slate of matches. The Cavaliers come first, followed by the No. 3 Panthers, a team with a national first place vote in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
"The most important match for us is Friday night," Kennedy said. "We can't sleep on Virginia by any means. We split last year and had a match point that we couldn't close out. We're going to see them later in the year, and we don't want to think that we can't win twice. That's the most important match in the weekend.Â
"I don't think anyone looks around that, where we are (as a program), that we should beat Pitt," he said. "That doesn't mean that we can't beat them, but we're going to have play very well. We play a different brand of volleyball. It's different from what Syracuse does, and it creates two very unique styles to prepare for. Syracuse was a tournament team last year, and teams have to prepare for a trip to Boston in there. I think that works to our advantage."
BC will host Virginia on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its Dig Pink event at Power Gym. That will lead to Sunday's match against the Panthers at 2:30 p.m. Both matches can be seen on the ACC Network Extra.
For Jason Kennedy, one of those moments came after Boston College volleyball defeated Clemson. It was the Eagles' first win at Jervey Gym since 2006, but the second-year head coach didn't have time to check the history books. He had to ready his team for a quick turnaround trip from South Carolina to Georgia, where it would play at Georgia Tech two days later. That's when an unexpected moment of pride washed through the locker room.
"I was starting to get the team ready to move down to Georgia Tech, trying to just get ready for the next one," he said. "I saw our juniors giggling in the corner (of the locker room), and I asked Clare (Naughton) what was going on. She looked at me and said, 'Well I've never won an ACC road match.' Jane (DeJarld) piped in and said, 'That's only the second one that I've ever won.'"
Two days later, BC beat the Yellow Jackets to record its first weekend road sweep of conference opponents since 2012. Significant by itself, it is wrapped up in a new development within the program, one that can make Eagles from any generation smile as the team enters this weekend with a 13-4 overall record and an unprecedented 4-0 conference start.
"We got that monkey off our back (by getting a road win)," Kennedy said. "Then we went down to play a Georgia Tech team that I think is pretty good. We beat (the Yellow Jackets) in their own place at a time when they were undefeated in their building. It solidified a changing of the guard. We're not talking about not winning on the road. It's all gone."
Its arguably the best start in program history, and it thrust BC into the national volleyball spotlight after a grueling, yet successful, start to the year. The Eagles opened the year with four consecutive weekends of double-day matches, meaning they played three matches over two days. Early-season conflicts limited the availability of on-campus scheduling, forcing every single one of those weekends onto the road.
"We weren't really that good on the road last year," Kennedy said. "We knew we wanted to travel a little bit, and the way the schedule worked out didn't give us much of a choice. We wanted to do the most that we could. We wanted to make ourselves uncomfortable, but we still wanted to find ways to make the offense click and work."
It began with a trip to Oregon to play a weekend set in Eugene. BC rallied from an opening-night loss to Oregon State to defeat UC-Irvine in Saturday's early session, both by 3-0 decisions. It set up the late night match against the host Ducks on Saturday, where Oregon won, 3-0, but watched as the Eagles held tight in the first two sets.
"We played teams that were better than anyone we faced, for the most part, for the better chunk of last year," Kennedy said. "Oregon was healthy and playing well. Oregon State played us well. And we beat UC-Irvine, which might not have seemed like a big deal at the time, but that team has a lot of good pieces. The record is struggling, but that group beat (then-Top Ten) Hawaii on the road, so that win was better than what a lot of people realized."
Everything quickly picked up steam from there. A weekend sweep at UConn of the Huskies, Central Connecticut State and Iona fed into a 2-1 weekend at Florida Atlantic. Wins over Bethune-Cookman and Southern Utah bookended a loss to the host Owls, but it provided the necessary jump to keep momentum back to Massachusetts, where the Eagles beat Harvard. Another two-win weekend primed BC for the start of the conference slate, and it exploded immediately with the road sweep.Â
It was a similar script to last year, when the Eagles swept Clemson and Georgia Tech at home to open conference play. The year unraveled shortly thereafter when the second weekend, against Duke and Wake Forest, touched off seven consecutive losses. Those matches, though, were on the road, and the team used its home debut at Power Gym to unveil a new attitude - and a new outcome.
"I reminded the team of (our 2-0 start last year) before Duke and Wake Forest," Kennedy said. "I talked about the fact that (this year) came back to Power (for those matches)."
On Friday, BC split the first two sets against Duke, winning the first, 25-19, before losing the second, 25-21. The third and fourth sets, though, quickly became a story of Eagle dominance, and the team ripped off consecutive 25-15 results to beat a team that went to the NCAA Tournament last season.
Two days later, BC lost the first set to Wake Forest, 25-20, but rallied to win the next three in a 3-1 victory. It included a hard-fought third set where BC opened up a five-point lead but watched Wake Forest tie the set at 22-22 before kills from Clare Naughton and Jill Strockis ended the threat.
"Neither match was pretty, and I didn't think we played well in the beginning of (either day)," Kennedy said. "We figured it out in the end, but it wasn't like it was a given that we were going to come in and win. This is where things fell apart a little bit last year. The fact that we were able to grind through a slow start and win three of four (sets) in both made me feel like this is a new group. We've turned the corner."
It's a symbolic but important showing that has BC volleyball buzzing both in its sport and on campus. Duke went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and both Clemson and Georgia Tech were invited to compete in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, a postseason tournament on par with basketball's NIT.
"Everyone knows the Duke brand (in volleyball)," Kennedy said. "And both Clemson and Georgia Tech made the NIVC last year. Even though they aren't Top 25 teams, per se, they are still teams that played in some form of postseason tournament last year. So it shows some growth. I think people are starting to notice what we're doing, and there were a good amount of people in Power Gym on Friday night. It was a great atmosphere. It's what we've talked about as coaches that we want to build. If you can play into December, you did something right. We want to grind it out into late November to be playing meaningful matches."
It's the next layer or floor of the construction project undertaken in Boston College volleyball. The team is currently ranked in the top three in the conference in hitting percentage, kills and assists and is fifth in both kills and service aces.
Both Amaka Chukwujekwu and Sophie West are in the top ten in the conference individually in hitting percentage, with the former ranked second. Chukwujekwu is also in the top ten in the league with 1.22 blocks per set, though her total numbers place her third as one of three players over 70 total blocks.
"We are making huge strides," Kennedy said. "We're doing everything I want to incorporate. It's not perfect every night, but it's not going to be, either. The speed of our offense is right where I want it, and the blocking of our defense is vastly improved over a year ago. That's a testament to our assistant coaches, Kin Yun and Marissa Prinzbach.Â
"Kin runs our defense, and what we've done with the blocking is just outstanding," he continued. "When you look at a kid like Amaka, she's in the lead in the ACC, and that's phenomenal for a kid that's maybe six feet tall on her tippy toes. And with Marissa running the offense, we're in the top three in kills per set in the ACC."
It's all part of the vision of the program, and the ongoing success and support for the team is contingent on continuing to develop along those lines. The NCAA released the RPI ratings this week, and the Eagles slotted into No. 112 of 335. They ranked seventh among ACC schools but are only three spots behind Virginia, a team that comes to Power Gym this weekend to open up a huge slate of matches. The Cavaliers come first, followed by the No. 3 Panthers, a team with a national first place vote in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
"The most important match for us is Friday night," Kennedy said. "We can't sleep on Virginia by any means. We split last year and had a match point that we couldn't close out. We're going to see them later in the year, and we don't want to think that we can't win twice. That's the most important match in the weekend.Â
"I don't think anyone looks around that, where we are (as a program), that we should beat Pitt," he said. "That doesn't mean that we can't beat them, but we're going to have play very well. We play a different brand of volleyball. It's different from what Syracuse does, and it creates two very unique styles to prepare for. Syracuse was a tournament team last year, and teams have to prepare for a trip to Boston in there. I think that works to our advantage."
BC will host Virginia on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its Dig Pink event at Power Gym. That will lead to Sunday's match against the Panthers at 2:30 p.m. Both matches can be seen on the ACC Network Extra.
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