Volleyball team seeks to handle unfinished business

Luke Reeder, Contributing Writer

VCU’s volleyball season is back in action, as the black and gold look to pick up where they left off.

Former VCU head coach Jody Rogers resigned right before the start of the season. Rogers led the program for nine years and had a record of 180 wins and 88 losses, including an Atlantic 10 Championship, according to VCU Athletics. 

Taking her place is coach Kevin Maureen Campbell, the assistant head coach since 2019. Campbell has a tenured career in coaching dating back to when she was the head coach of University of North Florida in 2007, according to VCU Athletics. Campbell said taking over for a legendary coach is a test, but she is ready.

“I can’t be Jody [Rogers]. I can’t be any of the coaches I worked for. I can only be myself. I think the pressure is to remain authentic to who I am in this space, and doing it from a place of who I want to be and how I want to do it,” Campbell said.

Last season, the Rams ranked second heading into the A-10 tournament. The black and gold fell short of reaching their championship aspirations after they lost to Fordham University in the semifinal round. 

Campbell said she is confident VCU can contend for a championship again, but in order to do so, they’ll need to play at their highest level consistently.

“It will take us being disciplined, consistent, relying on each other and trusting each other,” Campbell said.

This summer, the Rams were picked second behind the University of Dayton in the annual A-10 preseason poll, according to the A-10. However, Campbell said she is ignoring the outside noise.

“We don’t think about it too much. We’re trying to stay present in the moment and where we are in our growth right now,” Campbell said.

Former All-Conference first team players, redshirt sophomore Jasmine Knight and graduate student Jovana Vukcevic, said they agreed and thought preseason awards added fuel to the fire. 

“I think it definitely adds motivation,” Knight said. “We have a lot of good incomers and returning players, so we definitely have a shot at winning the A-10 Championship.”

Knight and Vukcevic are both coming off well-performing 2021 seasons. Knight was ranked second in the A-10 in hitting, while Vukcevic averaged a team-best 2.96 kills per set, which was eighth in the A-10, according to VCU Athletics.

Earning All-Conference first team honors last year doesn’t add any extra stress for this year, Vukcevic said. 

“I wouldn’t say it adds any extra pressure,” Vukcevic said. “We didn’t just get it by ourselves, our teammates had our backs.”

Campbell said Knight and Vukcevic, who are both starters, bring many positive aspects to the program. 

“Jasmine is very talented and she has grown in her game, especially in her blocking. We trust [Jovana] in crunch time that she knows how to get the point, and that’s such a great thing to have out there, this consistency, maturity and reliability,” Campbell said.

The Rams haven’t won an A-10 championship since 2017 and haven’t won a regular season title since 2019, according to VCU Athletics. Vukcevic said she is confident that this team has what it takes to succeed. 

“We have a good base on our team,” Vukcevic said. “We have players who were part of their national team and players who have won national championships. If we bring all our experiences together and motivate other people and kind of try to set that mindset … we can beat it.”

Campbell said the transfer of regular season success to postseason success is a mental battle. It’s easy to be distracted by the high pressure environment of the postseason.

“That consistency and that steady, and that discipline has to happen, no matter what’s going on on the other side,” Campbell said. 

Looking forward to the regular season, Knight said she is excited for the opportunities that lie ahead of the team.

“No matter who is on the court, they’ve given us 100%,” said Knight. “Preseason is going to prepare us well for the regular season, and then we’ll be great.”

Already a handful of games into the preseason, Campbell said that she will use the upcoming matchups to fine-tune any necessary adjustments before the regular season.

“Some of these really strong opponents we’re playing will test us and will show us different things,” Campbell said. “So can we be ourselves? Reliable, consistent, steady…we’ll see.”