The Hofstra University volleyball team has had a red-hot start to the season, posting a 13-2 overall record and going 3-1 in league play. To those that have been watching the team for some time, it comes as a stark contrast to the start they had last year, going 5-8 and 2-0 in the same first month stretch of the season.

After turning their season around with a historic 12-game winning streak, their 2022 season ultimately ended in a brutal five-set upset in last year’s conference championship. That means for the 2023 season, head coach Emily Mansur wanted change.

Line item number one for Mansur’s squad: better communication.

“We knew last year we were not good at [communicating]; one of our big downfalls was not necessarily our communication, but our presence,” Mansur said. “When things were good, we were very good; when things got tough, we were very quiet, so this is something that, from the beginning, we made a priority to get better.”

Enter Clara Bal, Yagmur Cinel and Izadora Stedile: the team’s top three offensive players, thrust into the spotlight with their repeat appearances on the stat sheets.

“We always like to play and practice out loud,” Stedile said. “Even with communication, which we sometimes struggle with, we like to have open communication, so we can build on that during practice.” 

Bal took being communicative and expressive to the next level – the next decibel level, to be specific.

“Being loud is part of my
personality, especially at practice, and I think it gives another taste to practice,” Bal said. “When [spectators] come to our games, they probably think I’m extremely loud, but it also creates this energy for the team.”

Last year, the Pride sat and watched their conference rival, the Towson Univeristy Tigers, win their fourth consecutive conference championship. Right after, Hofstra witnessed one of its best players in the 2022 season transfer to the Tigers during the offseason.

“I think [Zyare Abdul-Rahim] was for sure a big part of this team,” Mansur said. “Just like any player that transfers or leaves, they take with them whatever it is that they bring into our program. So the day that she came in [and] said, ‘Hey, I’m going to leave,’ our focus was [instantly], ‘Hey, what do we need to fill that hole?’”

With a huge role to fill, Bal, Stedile and Cinel all have their different ways of coming together on the front row.

Cinel, who had a well-balanced last season with 240 kills and 182 digs, is “ready to kill” coming into this season.

“I think it’s going to be much better this year,” Cinel said. “We are still early in the season, so it’s too early to say, but I do feel very confident. I think this is going to be the year that we are [going to] dominate.”

Cinel also has versatility at the forefront of her mind.

“I also want to try and do a couple of more things besides kills, like service aces and blocking,” she said. “Try to expand on everything, I hope.”

Something that all three of the attackers have in common is that they know how to be held accountable for the environment they’re in.

“We, as hitters, take more responsibility, putting the team on our shoulders; it’s important that we have to take accountability and responsibility on the court,” Bal said. “We don’t blame each other for mistakes, we take accountability. Not every set is going to be perfect, not every pass is going to be perfect, but as we say on the court, we always try to better the ball that was touched before.”

Being louder and a more versatile player isn’t everything, though. Sometimes it comes down to how a person feels about their own game. For Bal, knowing that she has her teammates’ trust is what reassures her on gameday.

“I feel like since I trust the people around me so much, and in return they trust me, [so] it really helps me trust myself too,” Bal said. “It’s this trust where we all know that we have someone to back us up if we’re not having our best day. This is by trusting the people around me, they trust me in return, and that helps me trust myself.”

In Cinel’s case, she sees that having that trust motivates everyone to be better.

“We’re together a lot, and of course we want to win, it’s fun to win,” Cinel said. “We are just so ready to go for it, so even the little things we do inside and outside of practice motivates us.” 

Bal, who had a career-high in kills this past Saturday, Sept. 23, knows that this trust goes hand-in-hand with her ability to go beyond her limits.

“When I’m playing, I know that I don’t limit myself to one type of hitting, and I think that makes me better in general,” Bal said. “I felt like my repertoire [grew]; there’s a different type of trust between players, especially the attackers. I have this freedom of hitting new shots or something that is sometimes a little risky because I know if I miss, the person after me is [going to] put the ball in and still be aggressive.”

The general consensus: when you feel good, you play well; when you play well, your confidence builds. That’s where this team is right now, as confident as ever. But that doesn’t show up from nowhere – Mansur is also part of that confidence.

“[Coach] motivates us a lot, and I think we have a pretty unique communication with Emily,” Cinel said. “When you have those tough moments, she understands and motivates you personally. It’s good to have that good communication with your coach.”

With that confidence also brings a new aspect to the players’ personal game, as they’re more comfortable in a different environment.

“Personally, I’m more motivated this year,” said Stedile. “Because last year, I was seeing how things go, making sense on how everything works. It’s very different from the way we play back at home, and now I’m more into the game, and having connections with my teammates makes everything better too.”

As the team continues to steamroll through the season, with multiple win streaks on their resume, the Pride continues to build the mindset of sharing the wealth, further bolstering Mansur’s confidence.

“We don’t depend on one person,” she explained. “It’s not just one player, it’s three or four players at all times which gives everybody a chance to be better, because it’s not just depending on one person to get kills.”

Something that Mansur particularly relies on is the team’s “volleyball IQ,” as she put it, specifically to compensate for their lack of height.

“We are very short, we are a little bit undersized, which means we just have to be a little bit more efficient and faster,” Mansur said before chuckling. “Where we have made the decisions of maybe not going for so much height but more of volleyball IQ. This is the smallest that we have ever been, but they are playing really well.”

Team effort is important when every person clocks in.

“If I see a teammate playing the same position as me, creating more [scoring opportunities] or being efficient or working really hard, it’s going to push myself to work harder,” Bal said. “It creates this environment of good competition between the players; we compete in a healthy way.”

“I think the really cool thing about this offense is that’s about everyone,” Mansur said. “It’s about Bea [Alves], who is our setter. It’s about both of our liberos. It’s all of [the players], and that, I think, is what is going to help us be successful this season.”

Photos courtesy of Hofstra Athletics