Bethany University head volleyball coach Reed Duffus has trouble containing his smile as he talks about his women’s volleyball team.
School started for Bethany students in late August, and the team had its first practices around the same time.
With five new players and seven returners, Duffus figured it would take some adjustments before his players jelled.
It was the opposite.
“From the first 15 minutes, it was like they had known each other forever,” Duffus said.
The coach made it a priority for the players to get to get to know one another before they met, and he encouraged them to connect on Facebook or by phone and text message. They took his advice and did it.
“We have been cohesive since the moment we stepped on campus,” he said.
How did it happen?
“The personalities in this group click together well,” said Kim Feigles, the only senior on the team and co-captain of the Bruins. “And we’re all excited about the season.”
The unexpected cohesion has allowed Duffus to focus on the X’s and O’s of winning games, something he’s been less able to do the past several years. He’s pushed his players to be aggressive on the court, while maintaining the sportsmanship and fair play Bethany strives for as a Christian university.
“These players genuinely want to be here,” Duffus said.
A perfect example is sophomore setter Kirsten Duren, a transfer from Division I Boise State University. Duren, a team co-captain, left Boise State after the fall 2009 season because the 14,000-person school was too big, she said, and she was too far away from her home in the Central Valley town of Ripon.
The Christian, small-school environment, with about 400 undergraduate students, has proven to be perfect for Duren.
“It’s just what I wanted,” she said.
Duren brings her experience playing at thh Division I level to Bethany, a NAIA school in the California Pacific Conference.
The team has set a goal to finish in the top three in the Cal-Pac to earn a high seed in the conference tournament, a far cry from their sixth-place, 3-9 finish last year. Then, if the chips fall right, the team hopes to win a berth in the national tournament.
Junior libero and co-captain Lauren Koons thinks it’s a reality for this team.
“I definitely think top-three is attainable,” she said. “If not this year, then in the next few years.”
The team has height on its front line in 5-foot, 10-inch players Ali Heller, Hannah Walsh, Katrina Spencer and Jessie Alcorn. Becky Heiner stands 5-11, and Ashley Coila is 6 feet.
Brittany Lovato, the lone local on the team, played for Mount Madonna High School before Bethany.
The team has circled several dates on the schedule, including matchups with UC Santa Cruz on Oct. 13 and Nov. 6.
No matter what the game results are, the team will be a tight unit.
“It’s easy at a Christian university, because before performance on the court, we care more about how they’re doing in their lives,” Koons said. “We do team devotionals and ask tough life questions and understand each other on a deeper level.”
