The morning after our first team practice was an interesting experience.

Not only were we all exhausted, but our muscles began to stiffen and become extremely sore and it is only day two. We began this morning with team breakfast in the caf and then walked over to the sand courts where Coach (Peter Green) introduced us to fitness drills that would strengthen our muscles more and increase our speed and endurance.

For an hour and a half, we all were sprinting, jumping, diving and doing numerous other things in the sand. However, the sand makes things more difficult for us to maneuver in which means once we get on the court, we should be moving a lot faster.

After a grueling morning of sand we all had a little break to clean up and eat before our block practice. It was only the beginning of our day’s practices and we had a lot more to look forward to.

Day two of block practice was coordinated a little differently than yesterdays. Coach split us up into three groups consisting of setters, middle and right side hitters, and outside hitters/passers.

The setters ultimately had to go in first and Coach had them working on the consistency of the set to the position. For instance, the setters had to set a certain amount of balls and have them land in a net which was placed at the accurate location of which he wanted. They ran through this drill fairly quickly and it took them about 30 minutes to do so.

The next group came in, the outsides/passers and our focus was to have ball control. In other words, Coach gave us a drill that targeted our ability to control the ball more efficiently. Drills such as these are imperative because ball control is one of most necessary tasks to have to ensure victory.

Once we finished our drill, the middles/right sides came in and Coach gave them a drill that focused on connecting with the setters. They also did an amazing job connecting with the setters, which can be difficult during the early stages of the season. Four o’ clock rolls around and our break is here.

The last practice of day two consisted of a warm-up game that was very competitive. Warm-up games are designed to not only get us warmed-up physically, but mentally as well.

By the time 8 p.m. hits, we are exhausted both mentally and physically and these games help push us because the loser always have an incentive that no one wants to do such as running suicides.

Once we get through the game, Coach runs us through passing, hitting, and ball control drills. This year his main focus is concentrating of the “little things” such as diving for that ball that maybe we thought we couldn’t get, or having enough endurance to push us through that fifth game, and more importantly to prepare us mentally to never ever give up.

After the second day’s practice comes to an end, we all are ready to sleep and get rested for day 3.

Tori Lewis is a senior outside hitter for the Hawks and is a three-year starter for the program. She was named All-CIAA in 2009 and 2010 and made the CIAA All-Tournament Team both years as well.