By Tim Brennan, Staff Writer, Delmavanow
Don Metil earns first victory at UMES, over squad he left
PRINCESS ANNE -- When Don Metil was named the new University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball coach in February, he made it no secret at his introductory press conference that one of his final acts as coach at his old school was to schedule a match against UMES.
On Friday, the Hawks took on Metil's last employer, Coppin State, in a nonconference match, in what could be called a calculated risk. Before the match, Metil said this could be looked at by the Eagles as their biggest match of the year, with them coming out fired up and ready to take down the Hawks.
That just didn't happen, as the Hawks took care of business in three tidy sets, 30-9, 30-13, 30-17, in a match that took just more than an hour.
"I'm not a big fan of pep talks," Metil said, "but I did tell them that there was some emotional value placed on this match, and I'm happy with the outcome. Obviously, we tried some things. Games one and two were our true starting six. Game three we switched a lot of people into different positions and we put our freshman in to see what she could do out there. So I think the scores were kind of a reflection of that, and going into next week we'll have a true idea of how important it is that we take care of the ball no matter who we're playing."
It was a fun night for Metil, who exchanged glances and smiles with some of his former players and his replacement, Coppin State coach Rich Zwolinski.
"Rich is a good friend of mine, we talk often, and it was a friendly match," Metil said. "I truly love all the girls on that team still. I wish them the all luck during their season, except when they play us."
Earlier in the week, Metil said he put in a new, more complex, faster offense for the Hawks this season, some of the same things he had been doing at Coppin State. He had said that if the new offense was not working, they would ease up a little bit. Slowing down was not necessary, as the returning players and new ones showed they have gelled quite nicely.
"In our minute huddle going out to game two, I asked them to do two things," Metil said. "Improve on our serve receive and try to run our play book, because we knew we were probably going to get a lot of free balls from Coppin. They actually even ran one of our plays off a serve receive, the very first serve, which to me is really impressive, because those are free-ball play. And for us to pass that well that we can run our play book off a serve receive, that makes me really happy."
From the first point on, the Eagles were outmatched, as a pair of newcomers stole the show.
Setter Christina Estabane' finished with 24 assists, even making the play when the pass to her was less than perfect, and she was able to bring the wows from the crowd with her jump serves that led to eight aces.
"My first year that I was jump serving, my freshman year (of high school), it seemed like wow to everybody, because it's freshman volleyball, it's not really that competitive," said Estabane', who's been playing volleyball since she was 2 years old. "Then I started getting good around my sophomore year, I practiced a lot on it."
When she was registering the "routine" assists, the biggest hits came from another transfer, Whitney Johnson. Listed at 6-foot-3, she is the tallest player on the UMES squad, and when she is given a good set, she brings the booming hits from the outside.
"I practice every day, so one day it will be even better," Johnson said.
Johnson finished with six kills, while Holiday Eller and Caylin Woodward led the Hawks with seven a piece. The Hawks hit .367 as a team and held the Eagles to a .161 hitting percentage.
Coppin State, which brought just six players for the match, struggled to come up with many points of their own. Of the 39 points the Eagles scored, 14 came on UMES service errors.
The Hawks now hit a stretch of 12 straight matches away from the Hytche Center, which will keep them away from home until they play host to the UMES Comfort Inn Classic, on Sept. 28-29.
Don Metil earns first victory at UMES, over squad he left
PRINCESS ANNE -- When Don Metil was named the new University of Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball coach in February, he made it no secret at his introductory press conference that one of his final acts as coach at his old school was to schedule a match against UMES.
On Friday, the Hawks took on Metil's last employer, Coppin State, in a nonconference match, in what could be called a calculated risk. Before the match, Metil said this could be looked at by the Eagles as their biggest match of the year, with them coming out fired up and ready to take down the Hawks.
That just didn't happen, as the Hawks took care of business in three tidy sets, 30-9, 30-13, 30-17, in a match that took just more than an hour.
"I'm not a big fan of pep talks," Metil said, "but I did tell them that there was some emotional value placed on this match, and I'm happy with the outcome. Obviously, we tried some things. Games one and two were our true starting six. Game three we switched a lot of people into different positions and we put our freshman in to see what she could do out there. So I think the scores were kind of a reflection of that, and going into next week we'll have a true idea of how important it is that we take care of the ball no matter who we're playing."
It was a fun night for Metil, who exchanged glances and smiles with some of his former players and his replacement, Coppin State coach Rich Zwolinski.
"Rich is a good friend of mine, we talk often, and it was a friendly match," Metil said. "I truly love all the girls on that team still. I wish them the all luck during their season, except when they play us."
Earlier in the week, Metil said he put in a new, more complex, faster offense for the Hawks this season, some of the same things he had been doing at Coppin State. He had said that if the new offense was not working, they would ease up a little bit. Slowing down was not necessary, as the returning players and new ones showed they have gelled quite nicely.
"In our minute huddle going out to game two, I asked them to do two things," Metil said. "Improve on our serve receive and try to run our play book, because we knew we were probably going to get a lot of free balls from Coppin. They actually even ran one of our plays off a serve receive, the very first serve, which to me is really impressive, because those are free-ball play. And for us to pass that well that we can run our play book off a serve receive, that makes me really happy."
From the first point on, the Eagles were outmatched, as a pair of newcomers stole the show.
Setter Christina Estabane' finished with 24 assists, even making the play when the pass to her was less than perfect, and she was able to bring the wows from the crowd with her jump serves that led to eight aces.
"My first year that I was jump serving, my freshman year (of high school), it seemed like wow to everybody, because it's freshman volleyball, it's not really that competitive," said Estabane', who's been playing volleyball since she was 2 years old. "Then I started getting good around my sophomore year, I practiced a lot on it."
When she was registering the "routine" assists, the biggest hits came from another transfer, Whitney Johnson. Listed at 6-foot-3, she is the tallest player on the UMES squad, and when she is given a good set, she brings the booming hits from the outside.
"I practice every day, so one day it will be even better," Johnson said.
Johnson finished with six kills, while Holiday Eller and Caylin Woodward led the Hawks with seven a piece. The Hawks hit .367 as a team and held the Eagles to a .161 hitting percentage.
Coppin State, which brought just six players for the match, struggled to come up with many points of their own. Of the 39 points the Eagles scored, 14 came on UMES service errors.
The Hawks now hit a stretch of 12 straight matches away from the Hytche Center, which will keep them away from home until they play host to the UMES Comfort Inn Classic, on Sept. 28-29.
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