Volleyball team ready to open regular season

The preseason camp and exhibition matches are in the books and it is time for the Eastern Florida State College volleyball team to take the court. 

The Titans will open the regular season Wednesday night against Indian River State College at 6 p.m. at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

With nine freshmen the team has been hard at work preparing for the season.

"So far it has been really good, obviously with nine freshmen it has been a lot of work to get everybody on the same page and get everybody running the same system," Twelvetrees said. "We have so many players from all over the world, it makes it very difficult to run the same offense because they are all used to something different. But we are slowly getting into system, we are 22 days in and for what we have been able to accomplish I am pretty happy with where we are."

The Titans will be led by a strong sophomore class that includes Ariel Letcher, Elisa Pauzer, Carley Gregory, Mariana Amaral and libero Erin Arbour.

They will need to step up Wednesday night against a strong Indian River State College team that begins the season No. 10 in the NJCAA Region 8 preseason poll.

"Indian River is always really strong offensively, they do a lot on offense so we will have to block effectively and run our offense effectively," Twelvetrees said.

The Titans will be home for three of the first four matches to begin the season, hosting Santa Fe College and Florida State College at Jacksonville the first week of September and coach Twelvetrees believe the Titans can get off to a strong start.

"We are so diverse, we are deep and diverse. We have players who can play all over the court and we have enough hitters in each position that we have weapons everywhere," Twelvetrees said. "We are not just relying on the outsides anymore to take care of the ball. All three positions can score and both setters are very talented and do a great job distributing the ball evenly."

The diversity and depth has coach Twelvetrees excited to see what this group can accomplish this season.

"If we can run all three options every time, I don't think anyone can touch us but it takes a lot to get us firing on all cylinders," Twelvetrees said.

Admission to volleyball matches at Titan Field House is free.