Volleyball pit drills help team prepare

Although the statistics show the Penn volleyball team has played well, the Quakers (5-10) have dropped their last five matches mainly due to mental errors. In preparation for tomorrow's 1 p.m. match against St. Peter's (16-5), what have the Quakers been doing to remedy their recent mental lapses? The answer is quite simple -- pit drills. Penn coach Kerry Major dubbed this week's practice -- its first five-day week of practice since the season started -- "mental toughness week." The aim is to encourage the athletes to push through their weaknesses and overcome adversity when they hit a mental wall. The pit drills simulate these mentally challenging situations. "If you make a mistake you don't have time to think about it," Penn junior Angie Whittenburg said. "It makes you think forward and go for the next ball." During a pit drill, a couple of the volleyball players are on one side of the court, while Major stands elevated on a box on the other side of the court. Major slams balls down left and right, requiring the players to dive for one ball and then get up and immediately go after another. "You go until you feel like dropping," Major said. "First, it is physically draining, but then it becomes emotionally draining." Some of her favorite pit drills are "meat grinder", "monster D" and "weed wacker", which all address the issue of making the players push themselves beyond their limits. Another obstacle being dealt with in practice is Penn's inability to score points after getting a side-out. In last Friday's match at Dartmouth, the Quakers had a .207 hitting percentage, but failed to win a game. Penn and Dartmouth traded side-outs for most of the game, causing a 3-0 match to last nearly two hours. The following day Penn was plagued by the same problem. They beat Harvard in many statistical categories, including digs and blocks, but the Quakers had difficulty scoring when they gained the serve. Because of that, Penn has also been doing a drill called "wash out", where players are taken out of the game for making mistakes. A side plays shorthanded for a point if one of its members makes an error. After three errors a player is permanently removed from the match. Also, the Quakers have been practicing getting three points in a row without losing serve, so when the opportunity arises tomorrow, Penn will capitalize. "I think it's really important for us to win," said Whittenburg, who led the Quakers with 25 kills last weekend. "We've all been working really hard, and we're a much better team than last year, so it's frustrating when you haven't been winning." Penn will need to make the most of its opportunities against St. Peter's in order to break its current five-game losing streak. Early in the season the Peahens narrowly lost to Yale 3-2, and later on they fought back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Princeton 3-2. Moreover, St Peters defeated Penn in a scrimmage last spring. "They don't play a conventional offense," Major said. "They're scrappy. That's the kind of Loyola team that can give us problems. We will need to stay on our toes. If we can adapt, we can beat them." Not beating themselves with mental errors is the bottom line for the Red and Blue. The team hopes the implementation of pit drills during mental toughness week will enable it to overcome St. Peters and get back on the winning track.