After finishing the preseason 6-4, the San Jose State volleyball team won its first two games of conference play, defeating San Diego State and Fresno State.
As the Spartans enter the Mountain West Conference season, head coach Trent Kersten said he wants his team to understand the main takeaways from the rights and wrongs that occurred in their preseason matches.
“Anytime you get experience in that high level of match, it’s a good thing and you always learn a little bit about yourself,” Kersten stated.
Kersten also mentioned how he instructs his team to understand the lessons that come with failure while also telling his players to fix their mistakes instead of dwelling on them.
“When you’re going through it and learning to play at that level, you’re going to fail at times,” Kersten said. “Honestly we have failed in those situations and we can own that. We can keep getting better and apply the lessons we’ve learned and hopefully keep preparing ourselves for that level of match.”
The Spartans have some experience going into conference play as they finished their first tournament of the year, the Weber State Tournament, with a record of 2-1, knocking off Southern Utah (3-1) and UC Riverside (3-1) before falling to Weber State (1-3).
SJSU continued its dominance as they took part in the Trojan Challenge tournament hosted by USC, finishing with a record of 2-1 with victories over New Mexico State and Milwaukee, before coming up shy against USC.
Gathering takeaways from all these matches prepares SJSU for conference play, but more importantly, shows the team what they can do when they work together.
Working together is one of the most important traits that a team can have and for senior Sarah Smevog, it’s the biggest strength.
Smevog, the three-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete and three-time Academic All Mountain West honoree, said the biggest strength of the team was its passion toward the game. “One of our biggest strengths as a team is our values,” Smevog said. “Our biggest value is the love for the game and each other that reminds us that we are playing for something bigger than ourselves.”
Smevog said she thrives off coach Kersten’s critique by understanding that each game comes with a different learning experience. “We faced a lot of adversity in the preseason with difficult opponents that highlighted where we still need to improve,” Smevog said. “I am very confident in our team moving forward into the regular season because of the intention that we train with to get better as a team.”
Smevog will be suiting up for her final season. She said playing alongside her team for the past five years has given her the passion to influence her teammates to be the best that they can be. “I hope to leave the SJSU volleyball program knowing that I made everyone around me feel loved,” Smevog said. “I hoped to have played a role in uplifting my teammates to be the best versions of themselves as athletes and as people.”
