Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s soccer and volleyball teams hosted their annual media day activities at the Dunn Center on August 13th, as the start of their respective regular seasons quickly approach.
“Today with media day it kind of makes things a little bit more formal with the season about to get underway,” soccer head coach Kelley Guth said. “We’ve had a week of training under us and a match against Alabama and that was a good eye opened on what we need to work on as we move forward.”
As for volleyball, media day comes one day after they opened up their fall practice schedule under second-year head coach Taylor Mott, who becomes the first volleyball coach to spend more than one year at the helm of the program since Jenny Hazelwood in the 2007 and 2008 season.
“We’re excited about getting back in the gym,” Mott said. “It seems like forever since they were here in the spring. The energy has been good, everyone is healthy.
“I feel that everyone is in pretty good shape, even though it’s hard to stay in volleyball shape. The game is so different. You can run all summer and be fit, but playing is so different with the muscles you use from playing. I know they (the team) are a little sore today after opening up practice yesterday.”
The Lady Govs return nine players (plus one redshirt) from last year’s 17-16 squad under Mott, which should play into Austin Peay’s favor early on; the team only has 18 practice days to get ready for their season opening tournament at the University of South Florida versus Miami (FL).
The volleyball team will play its first 17 matches away from the Dunn Center, with the Lady Govs first home volleyball match scheduled for October 1st against Murray State.
Soccer on the other hand, will have their second and third exhibition matches — at home this week – with the University of Evansville squaring off against the Lady Govs August 14th, at 7:00pm, and Freed Hardeman coming in on August 16th at 7:00 pm.
“We want to get better every time we step on the field,” Guth said. “We’ve been working on team defending and understanding our system and offensively attacking out of the back and getting our outsides backs getting forward.”
The Lady Govs soccer team opens up its regular season schedule August 23rd at Chattanooga (6:00pm CT), while their home opener versus Arkansas-Little Rock takes place on August 30th, at 7:00pm, at Morgan Brothers Soccer Field.
