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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 12, 2014 – Courtney Draper sported a huge smile when she walked into the gym Monday afternoon for the third day of preseason camp.
“I love coaching this team,” she said.
USF's third-year coach has a lot to feel good about these days. The Bulls brought in another ranked recruiting class and the newcomers have bonded quickly with a solid core of returners.
“I love this group of girls. They kept telling me all summer how hard they were working and now that we're all back in the gym together that work they put in this summer is really showing,” Draper said.
Bulls instantly buying into the winning philosophy set by Draper has allowed the team to get an early jump on some work that would usually be done later in camp.
“Usually at this point in the game you're still working on some team concepts and a lot of ball control, individual skills, but we've already been able to get into some 6-on-6 play and are really starting to establish our offense,” Draper said. “It's pretty early in the preseason to be doing that, but again that's just a tribute to how hard they worked this summer. They really came in prepared, so as a coach that's really fun to see.”
USF knows every minute in the gym is valuable leading up to a very challenging start to the season that the team is embracing. The Bulls begin their run Aug. 29-30 at the Mortar Board Premier in West Lafayette, Ind., where they'll face No. 8 Purdue, LSU and No. 14 San Diego before getting the home slate started Sept. 5 against Buffalo and FIU at the Corral.
“We open on the road at Purdue where we get three top-30 opponents in the country, so it's a big test early,” Draper said. “But I think it's great to have that test early rather than closer to conference play, where we're trying to build our team's confidence a little bit.”
The Bulls have gone 17-15 in each of the past two seasons and Draper said the team is shooting for a 20-win season or better this time around.
“I think we're closer and I think we're all wanting it even more this year, so that's a good thing to have,” junior outside hitter Erin Fairs said.
Position Battles in Full Swing
Draper is looking to get the most out of every position on the court and said each starting spot is open for the taking at this point.
“Obviously we have a really nice core group returning, but our new players coming in are extremely versatile,” she said. “We have a lot of girls who can go either middle or right side, outside or right side, and three choices to pick from for the libero position. We're really trying to identify the best group with the best chemistry out there.”
Another position where Draper has plenty of choices is at setter and the candidates include newcomers Alex Mendoza and Olga Morekhodova along with returner Natalia Soares.
“They all bring a little something different to the table,” Draper said.
Mendoza, a 5-foot-11 freshman, recorded 603 assists, 201 digs, 103 kills, 45 aces and 15 blocks as a senior at Lake Minneola (Fla.) High School.
“Alex is a local player who we've been watching for a really long time,” Draper said. “She had lots of offers out of state but kind of wanted to stay a little closer to home. We were really, really lucky to have her.”
Morekhodova, a 5-foot-9 junior, played the previous two seasons at Indian River State College, where she earned NJCAA All-America honorable mention honors in 2012 and was a two-time FCSAA/NJCAA All-Region 8 first-team member.
Soares, a 5-foot-7 junior, appeared in all 64 matches the past two seasons and was one of the team's two setters in 2013. The Porto Alegre, Brazil native posted 120 sets, 726 assists and 217 digs, and the veteran has done a commendable job taking USF's new setters under her wing this preseason.
“She obviously has our system down really nicely and she's helping the others to adjust to our new attackers as well,” Draper said.
Fairs Is Becoming the Complete Package
Erin Fairs' college resume is quite impressive.
The Richmond, Texas native became the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2012 and the outside hitter was named American Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2013 after leading the league with 429 kills (3.75 per set) and 491.5 points. Fairs also led all outside hitters nationally with 4.41 digs per set.
On top of all that, Fairs earned AVCA All-Region honorable mention honors after becoming the sixth player in USF history to post 500 or more digs in a season in 2013 and she's on the verge of moving up in the program record books in a number of categories.
Fairs needs 255 kills and 180 digs to become the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 in both categories and she would become the 12th Bull to reach 1,000 kills with much more volleyball to go in her collegiate career.
“Everybody looks at Erin Fairs as the best attacker, the biggest point scorer in the conference, but when we look at her in our gym we look at her as a leader, as an awesome person, a great student and an example to all the student-athletes at USF,” Draper said. “There are no negative words I can say about her. She's just an awesome, all-around athlete to have at USF and obviously she's going to be an important point scorer for us this year. We hope her defense continues to come along as well as her offense.”
Aside from her vocal presence in the huddle, Fairs is looking to lead by example as well and she's focusing on becoming even more consistent after trying out for the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team earlier this year.
“I got to play with the best of the best. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again,” Fairs said.
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