About one hour before the Syracuse volleyball match against Rutgers in Manley Field House earlier this month, the Orange players decided to have a little fun before starting their usual pregame warm-ups.

Junior middle blocker Hayley Todd crouched down underneath the net, covered her eyes and started counting. The rest of the team scattered throughout the gym and waited for Todd to get to 20.

At 20, Todd yelled out, ‘Ready or not, here I come,’ and started searching for her teammates. The players began trickling back to the middle of the court, trying to avoid a tag from Todd. After a couple more games of hide-and-go-seek, Syracuse buckled down, and the real warm-ups began.

That is only a small part of the general team atmosphere that has developed this year for the Orange (16-5, 5-1 Big East). Practices, warm-ups and games are light-hearted. Players are always seen laughing and dancing before and during the team’s games. This new attitude has contributed to the Orange’s strong Big East start, as it currently sits second in the conference.

Team co-captain Sarah Morton points to the togetherness of this year’s team as the main reason behind the easy-going style.

‘Freshman year, it felt like we were individuals on the court rather than a team and I feel that now, through getting to know people and getting to know their playing styles, we really went from one player on the court to six players on the court,’ she said.

Morton and co-captain Kacie MacTavish are the ringleaders of all the goofing around. Freshman Laura Homann said they started hide-and-seek at a road game against Buffalo because the gym there was ‘really cool-looking.’

After the Orange’s match against Cornell on Sept. 23, MacTavish stood behind a television camera and made faces at Morton throughout the entire interview, leading to Morton chasing down, and tackling her roommate once the interview ended.

‘Me and Sarah both just like to have fun,’ MacTavish said. ‘Being relaxed and enjoying ourselves is what’s most important so we try to implement that in our practices and games. We still keep focused but make sure that were all having fun and relaxed.’

SU assistant coach Carol LaMarche said the captain duo instigates most of the fun and games that take place, but she added that most of the other players do not need much encouragement to get involved.

Many of the players dance with each other on the sideline between points. In the pre-game huddle, each player starts bouncing up and down and flinging their legs and arms around while joining in on the team’s chant.

This has led to the fun-loving atmosphere that has become so evident within the Orange this year. LaMarche, a former Syracuse captain, said this team is much closer as a whole than any of her teams ever were.

The coaching staff has bought into their team’s personality. Pu is a quiet, laid-back coach whose simple approach only adds to the team’s attitude. He prefers rewards rather than punishments, and the team has responded to that.

‘Instead of punishment and pressure not to do bad, we’re encouraged to do good,’ MacTavish said. ‘I think that sort of allows us to play more comfortably and not be afraid to make mistakes. We try to do good things rather than try to not do bad things, and I think that’s a really good attitude to have.’

LaMarche has followed in Pu’s footsteps. At one point this season, SU struggled at the beginning of matches. So LaMarche decided to motivate the team with free ice cream on the Orange’s next road trip if the team started well in the second set against Colgate. Syracuse responded by taking a 4-1 lead early in that set.

LaMarche also sees no reason to stop the games of hide-and-seek before warm-ups, regardless of what other teams may think of the Orange.

‘We definitely get looks sometimes,’ she said. ‘And I like to think they’re looking at us going, ‘I wish I had that much fun with my team.”

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on October 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm