The world has experienced many changes due to COVID-19, but one thing that never changes for the Hofstra volleyball team is their love for their sport.
Hofstra, as well as New York State, the NCAA and the CDC, have all implemented guidelines for how college teams can practice while remaining as safe as possible. Normally at this time of the year it would be volleyball season for the Pride, but right now all they can do is practice.
“Every day we do temp checks and fill out the online screenings like all students do, and then we have wristbands, which is just a sign we did the temp check and we are not sick,” said team captain Ana Martinovic. “We have masks on, we have a lot of hand sanitizer in our gym and we stay distanced as much as we can, but at some points [because of] the nature of our sport, we have to be close to each other. But [because we have] masks, I think we are fine.”
Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur recognized that if 2020 has taught anyone anything, it’s to be grateful for what they have. “We are thankful to be here, and let’s go everyday as hard as we can because we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow,” Mansur said.
The Pride is a very close-knit team, and they’ve had to adjust not being able to celebrate properly after scoring points. “There are no more high fives, it is more of an elbow touch. We try to have less contact as much as we can but it is hard,” Martinovic said.
Players and coaches alike are required to wear masks during practice.
“[During] the first few weeks it was kind of weird getting adjusted, but at this point it became the new normal. So we are back at it, we practice full time, we have started scrimmaging between each other,” Martinovic said. “I thought [playing with a mask on] would be awful, but it’s not and we got adjusted to it, so it’s not bad at all anymore.”
The players also had to adjust physically, since many of them had not had a chance to properly practice since March. “The first two or three weeks were kind of weird just because my body hadn’t fully practiced in about eight months,” Martinovic said.
It had been over six months since Coach Mansur was last coaching, and she had some butterflies in her stomach before training began.
“I had a little bit of insecurity of how it was going to be, it was the first time seeing our new girls who haven’t touched a volleyball since March, so it was just a lot of unknowns, but then as soon as you get back, it was just natural,” Mansur said.
Coach Mansur is approaching the fall season the way she normally approaches a spring season.
“I think I am a little bit more understanding of the new challenges, we still have the same high expectations but I think I have eased a little bit on the approach on different things just for security reasons, it is different having a mask,” Mansur said.
The Pride is currently focusing on doing intrasquad scrimmages to replicate the feeling of competition.
“We need to have that because we can’t forget what it is like to compete again. Different players are playing positions that they didn’t have to play before but it is really important to remember what it is to win [and] what it is to lose, so we don’t lose that feeling,” Mansur said. “We want to keep that little fire inside of them.”
Only some of the Pride’s new players are able to be in the gym due to occupancy restrictions.
“I have pretty high standards for everyone and again I have to keep reminding myself that our new ladies haven’t touched a volleyball since March so it is going to take a little bit of time,” Mansur said. “We have three new players in our gym, which is Bianca [Bucciarelli], Mackenzie [Jefferson] and Damla [Tokman] and all of them have stepped up in different ways…. I don’t think we have seen who they are yet and I am excited and nervous because they get to go home but all three of them are doing a good job.”
Mansur has never faced a situation like this without her entire team in the gym, especially the new players fighting for a position in the starting six.
“The thought of it is terrifying, but again I am having to learn a lot right now and learn to adjust that certain things are not in our control and we focus with what is here right now. If we have to play with this group we are going to be ready to go,” Mansur added. At this time she’s not sure who will be in the starting six when the season starts in the new year.
“Maddie [Appleton] is doing a really good job. Competition-wise it’s hard because Maddie is the only libero in our gym because one libero is injured and the other two are out of the country and won’t be back,” Mansur said. “She lost her jersey last year, she is doing everything she can in order to try and get that again.
Mansur added, “For our setters, they know and I’m not going to sugarcoat it, we are far from finding who our setter is going to be. They have a chance to step up who is in our gym right now and if they don’t we are going to get to meet the new setters coming in.”
Four players are fighting for setter, former captain Luisa Sydlik’s position. Mansur has not seen a standout as of yet.
“Luisa had very big shoes to fill,” Mansur said. “We are going to have four setters in our gym [and] we usually have one setter in our gym, so there is for sure a lot of competition [for] that position.”
This socially-distanced season has also challenged the team to get creative when it comes to team-bonding opportunities.
“I personally feel very close with every new player. At the beginning [we started out] hanging out [and] just getting to know each other, and then now being on the court I think it helped. It sped up the process of getting to know each other,” Martinovic said.
Martinovic has also learned a lot about herself through her role as team captain.
“It feels good being a leader, being responsible for others. I like when I have responsibilities and obviously there are moments that are tough and there are situations that are not as nice or as comfortable,” Martinovic said. “I like being there, taking chances, taking responsibility either good or bad, you obviously have both.”
Mansur’s pick for co-captain turned out to be one of Martinovic’s closest friends. “We named Athina Dimitriadis as our second captain because she is a very good balance to Ana,” Mansur said. “Ana is very serious and very business-like and Athina is very serious but in a much mellow and fun way.”
“We are really close friends as well so it makes it even easier, so I was happy when [Mansur] told me
,” Martinovic added.
Most of the Pride have decided to go home for the extended winter break, and there is still a lot of uncertainty about what things will look like come January.
Martinovic decided to stay in New York in March when COVID-19 hit the Hofstra community, and she has not been back home to Serbia since the summer leading up to her junior year. With the season being how it is and classes ending earlier than normal, Martinovic took this opportunity to go home and see her family.
“I am very excited to see my family, it was about time to go and see them,” Martinovic said. “It would really be helpful mentally just to relax in my own bed in my house and be with my family.”
For Mansur, players traveling causes only more concerns for their return to campus.
“I wish no one was going home to tell you the truth because we just don’t know what the travel ban is going to be,” Mansur said. “However, I do respect that they want to go to their families, so there is a lot of questions in terms of that and what will happen if they can’t come back, what happens if the travel ban was like it was a couple of months ago.”
Martinovic would not hesitate to get back on a plane to come back to Hofstra if necessary. “If something happens with [COVID-19], I’m coming back as soon as possible,” Martinovic said. “I am not going to risk that something happens and I get stuck there.”
Martinovic will not be practicing alone at home because she will have some help from some of her family members. Her older sister, who is a big reason Martinovic started playing volleyball in the first place, could not wait for Ana to return home so they could practice together.
“We are going to practice together. I have a sister who played, two cousins who still play, we have full gear, volleyballs and everything at home because my dad is also a sports freak.” Martinovic said. “My sister also misses volleyball a lot, she tells me she dreams about it, she misses it a lot so I’m sure she is going to use the chance when I get home to get some touches as well.”
Even with the long break in between their season, the team finally has a set schedule for the springtime with Coach Mansur hoping to have the team back to practice by mid-January
“As of now it is official, we have a set schedule,” Martinovic said. “Now we are just going to wait and see if it actually happens.”
The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) has already set up the first month of matches for the teams.
“The CAA already sent our schedule for March,” Mansur said, adding that her main objective now is trying to find teams in New York to play against in February. Securing these preseason matches has presented challenges because the Pride can only play New York teams.
A lot of the Pride’s season still is up in the air with no definitive start date, because no one can predict what the COVID-19 pandemic will look like in February and March.
“The CAA [separated] the conference, it is going to be like a North division and a South Division. We are going to be playing Delaware, Towson and Northeastern like a couple of times,” Mansur said.
The split divisions will cause the same teams to play each other more than normal, which changes up how teams and coaches approach each match.
“When you get to play someone so many times you really find out what they do,” Mansur said. “So it is going to be very challenging [to] continue to be successful, to be able to adjust and not be the same team over and over again.”
The CAA tournament will also look very different this season.
“It is going to be the top four teams, so the top two from each division. We believe it is still going to be at Towson because they won the right to host last year when they won the CAA,” Mansur said.”Right now it is supposed to be four teams, semifinals and finals and that’s it. We really hope we get to have a season because I think it’s the biggest question mark and something we really hope is gonna happen.”
All in all, this season is very different for everyone but especially for Coach Mansur.
“I think [this year] we have to worry about us, about Hofstra Volleyball, about our ladies really maturing,” Mansur said. “This is a new team, they need to learn to win, they need to learn what it is to be great and that is what we are going to focus on.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
