The St. Andrews women’s volleyball program will have a young team this year with 11 freshmen under first year Head Coach Alehandro Escobar.
Courtesy photo
Despite the youth, the team believes they are capable of making the conference tournament as long as they continue to improve each day.
Courtesy photo
LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews women’s volleyball program has a fresh, yet familiar face leading the charge this season with Alejandro Escobar being named the program’s new head coach in June. Escobar played on the men’s volleyball team at St. Andrews during the 2017-18 season and earned All-County Team honors as a setter while helping the Knights to the 2018 Mid-South Conference Championship before competing in the NAIA National Championship.
After a few years away from Laurinburg at various coaching positions, he would return to St. Andrews for the 2022-23 academic year to finish his history degree and graduated in May 2023. That season he would join the men’s volleyball staff as a student assistant coach. Now back at St. Andrews, he is excited for his new role and feels ready to build this program the right way.
“I’m just super excited for the opportunity Coach Burris and the staff gave me,” Escobar said. “The no. 1 thing that I’m looking forward to is just seeing my development and the development of the girls as not only people but as players and always hoping that they can do better than me.”
As for the team itself, they are coming off an 8-20 campaign that saw them go 6-14 against conference opponents. This is set to be a very young team this year with 11 incoming freshmen on the roster. Having so much youth is something Escobar admitted will require some learning but is simply looking for consistent improvement on a day-to-day basis.
“There’s definitely going to be a learning curve, adjusting to the speed from the men’s game to women’s is one of the new things I’m learning myself,” Escobar said. “For the freshmen I’m focused on having small aspects of growing whether it’s finding a different way to hit a ball or a different way to pass, I’m looking for steady growth.”
That being said, there’s two sides to every coin. Graduate student Bailey Zivitski sees the team’s youth as a real positive as she feels it will give them a good mindset and willingness to incorporate some new ideas into the system they’re installing.
“One of our strengths coming into the season is that we are so young and have a lot of fresh minds,” Zivitski said. “We’re all open to a new dynamic and a new way of playing St. Andrews volleyball.”
One upperclassman who will help teach the incoming freshmen is Junior Ashlyn Garrett. She feels prepared to be a leader and help out however is needed.
“I believe that being an upperclassman allows me to be a role model for the younger girls,” Garrett said. “It gives me an opportunity to lead by example.”
The team believes they are capable of qualifying for the conference tournament in November. The Appalachian Athletic Conference coaches’ poll has them ranked 12th out of 15 teams with the top 10 during the regular season earning tournament berths. The key to qualifying is working together as a collective group, according to Junior Grace Farley.
“I think that one thing that we’re really going to focus on is having good chemistry and working well as a team,” Farley said. “Doing this will be a big part in helping us make the conference tournament.”
They will start their 2024 season on Friday, Aug. 23 at Life University with a game against Oakwood (Alabama) and another matchup with Life. Their first matchup with a conference opponent will be the day after on Saturday, Aug. 24 against Warner (Florida).