| Coach Meg Colado Chat UCF volleyball head coach Meg Colado stopped by UCFathletics.com for alive chat on Friday, July 7. Colado answered questions about ConferenceUSA, the Golden Knights' 2006 season and the new facilities at UCF. UCF opens the 2006 campaign on Aug. 25, hosting local rival Stetson inthe UCF Fall Invitational. The Golden Knights will have 15 home matchesat UCF Arena this year, including eight C-USA contests. |
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| Moderator: Thanks for joining us today. Coach Colado will be joining the chat shortly. |
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| Victor (Orlando): How great is it for the team to start the season at home after being on the road to start it the past few years? |
| | Coach Colado: We are so excited to kickoff the season at home this year. We are looking forward to gathering a great volleyball turnout starting at the start of the season. |
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Donnie (Oviedo): After a first year of making adjustments to Conference USA and having a 2-0 lead on league-champion Marshall in the quarterfinals, what do you feel has to be done for your team to take that "next step" in year two in C-USA? Thanks for answering and good luck this season. |
| | Coach Colado: Good question. Now that we are a year used to our schedule, the players understand how important both Friday and Sunday matches are. We lost some close five game matches last year and those we need to win this year. I think the match against Marshall at the conference tournament was a good indication at what our future holds. |
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| John (West Palm Beach): How will the return of Jenny Frank help the program. It must be a good feeling for you to have a former player return as a coach. |
| | Coach Colado: I am thrilled to have Frankie back in our program in a coaching capacity. She is as tenacious in her work ethic as she was as a player. Our setters will greatly benefit from her training. |
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| Jeff - Oviedo: Has being in Conference USA helped in recruiting? Thanks coach. |
| | Coach Colado: It sure has. We are now able to draw a higher level athlete, not only with the conference move, but with the progression of the athletic venues here at UCF. We are very excited about our '06 class and look forward to them kicking off their first Conference USA season. |
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| pat (orlando): What player(s) do you feel will have a big year for you and will be your team leaders |
| | Coach Colado: Jana Mitchell is our captain and posted great numbers last year. We feel that she is undoubtedly the team leader. Players you can expect to put up big numbers are Maina Heming, Schanell Neiderworder and Jenny Heppert. Other players that bring so much to our program deserve recognition as well. Lorin Lukas and Leah Alexander had great springs and we look forward to their play this season. |
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| Juan (Oviedo): With the new convocation center opening in 2007, how excited are you to have the UCF Arena as the full-time home of UCF volleyball? |
| | Coach Colado: We are so excited about the arena being used just for volleyball. The commitment made to all sports here at UCF is impressive. I have seen the benefit of volleyball-only gyms at other universities and it is a wonderful environment that we hope UCF fans will adopt. |
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| Jessica (Orlando): What things does the team need to improve upon from the past season when they return in the fall? |
| | Coach Colado: One of our main goals this spring was to become a more cohesive unit. We accomplished that. In addition to that, we needed to become more fit as a team to win those tough five game matches. I am happy to say that everyone of our returners are back and working hard over the summer. |
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| Brent (Ovedio): Thanks for being here. 2 questions: I know you are an optimist but what is a realistic expectation as far as where you will finish in CUSA this year? And secondly how good are the recruits you brought in? |
| | Coach Colado: We have to work with cautious optimism. Barring any unforeseen injuries, I think we have a good shot at being in the top half of the conference. That would put us in good seeding come tournament time. The new recruits will challenge our starters immediately. With 14 players on our roster, this is the deepest we have ever been at every position. I am really looking forward to practice. Thanks so much for the questions. Please come and support us this fall. Go Knights! |
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