The future is now for Head Coach Dee Conway and her Mary Washington College volleyball team. In last year's 12-27 campaign, four freshmen and a sophomore received valuable playing time and showed marked improvement throughout the course of the year. According to Conway, the intensity shown late last season, especially in a tight win (two of three) at Roanoke in the season's final match, should prove to be a carryover to this season.

 

Although this 1989 contingent is youthful - no seniors and just one junior in co-captain Deanna Peschka (Dale City, Va.) - it does not lack experience or intensity. The front line is armed with a number of talented performers, notably co-captain Gwen Ruble (Forest, Va.), who paced the team in kills with 152 last year. Shell combine with team "dig" (150) and service ace (25) leader Cyndee Tector (Paul Smiths, N.Y.) and Christine McKenna (Northport, N.Y.) to give the Eagles a formidable sophomore trio up front.

 

Another soph, Patricia Abernethy (Lynchburg, Va.), showed great promise in 1988 before an ankle injury sidelined her for much of the season. A major void for Conway to fill will be at setter with the loss of Renee Hubbard to graduation. Conway will employ the 5-1 (one setter) offense this season and will count on a freshman to take the reins as playmaker. With that in mind, Conway plans to use the service game as more of an offensive weapon and then hopes that the "setup" offense continues to improve as the season progresses. Tector and McKenna showed signs of brilliance in serving as freshmen, and the Eagles plan on using the serve to put opponents on the "defensive. "

 

"We're going to try and put pressure on the receiving team," said Conway. "We may make more errors, but on the other hand, we'll get more points by either winning the serve directly or by forcing the other team into making mistakes. Last year, we tended to just put the ball into play and put ourselves in a defensive posture."