Heffernan optimistic about WSU’s future

Brian Heffernan says Washington State volleyball fans can direct their sympathy toward someone other than him.

The first-year Cougars coach isn’t thrilled with the way his young team fared during the first half of its Pacific-10 Conference schedule. But he’s holding up quite well, thank you, even though his Cougs (3-18 overall, 0-9 Pac-10) have lost 13 consecutive matches.

“Honestly, I’m fine. But a lot of people have been asking,” Heffernan said Monday afternoon while beginning preparations for this week’s Pac-10 road trip to Oregon, where WSU will face Oregon on Thursday and Oregon State on Friday. “I watched enough video (of Pac-10 opponents) prior to the start of the season to know it was going to be a struggle.”

But Heffernan admits the losing is taking its toll on some of his players, particularly the younger ones.

“We have 14 young women who we’re trying to keep their morale up and keep them focused on the right things – improvement and mental toughness – and that’s a challenge,” he explained. “They’re working hard and trying to do some of the things we’re asking them to do, but in the end, when you don’t get the results you want, as an athlete, it’s tough to stay motivated.”

It is comforting, however, Heffernan said, to see the effort still being exerted by Stacey Holbrook and Alison Billingsley, the two seniors on his roster.

“They’ve been rock solid for us and very, very passionate about what they’re doing all season long,” Heffernan said of his two defensive specialists. “They’re playing every match as if it’s their last, and regardless of what happens the rest of the way, they’re going to walk away without regrets, because they’ll know they’ve done everything they could do.”

What has made the losing streak even more difficult to stomach is the fact that eight of the losses have come by 3-0 scores, making it obvious how far the program – which finished 24-8 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 – has fallen in just two years.

But Heffernan is hardly to blame, having inherited a team that was riddled by player dissension and defections during the final season of former Cougars coach Cindy Fredrick’s 15-year tenure.

Of the 14 players on his roster this fall, 11 are freshmen or sophomores. And many of them will be called upon to play key roles again this weekend.

“We have some athletic ability on this team,” Heffernan said, “but there are some changes that are going to need to be made in terms of physical development and gaining a greater sense of self-confidence and pride in order for us to get to where we want to be.”

In order to do that, Heffernan said he plans to emphasize strength and conditioning during the off-season. That, he said, will provide a firm foundation on which to continue his rebuilding efforts.

“If there’s one message I’d like to get out in the meantime,” Heffernan added, “it’s that I’m still very optimistic about the future of this program, and we will be back.”

Leaving with the lead

Eastern Washington, fresh off back-to-back home wins over Boise State and Portland State, heads back out on the road this weekend, hoping to build on its five-game winning streak and maintain its slim lead over Montana State and Sacramento State in the Big Sky standings.

The Eagles (14-6 overall, 7-1 Big Sky), who have won 13 of their last 14 matches with their only loss coming at Sacramento State, play at Idaho State (9-14, 5-4) on Friday and at Weber State (4-20, 2-7) on Saturday.

Eastern beat both teams at home by identical 3-0 margins earlier in the year and has a chance to distance itself a little more from second-place Montana State (15-5, 7-2), which faces a difficult road match against third-place Sacramento State (17-6, 6-2) on Saturday.

The Eagles’ recent surge has been fueled by junior outside hitter Lizzy Mellor, who recorded her first 20-plus kill match against Boise State and then posted a 13-kill, 11-dig double-double – her sixth of the season – against Portland State to share Big Sky player of the week honors with Montana State’s Megan Zanto.

Short-lived hangover

Any concerns Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan might have harbored about her team’s ability to bounce back from last Thursday’s 30-24, 18-30, 30-20, 30-23 Big West Conference loss at Utah State were eased two nights later when the Vandals dismantled UC Davis 30-21, 30-27, 30-17.

UI (14-6 overall, 6-4 Big West) didn’t bring much energy against the Aggies (7-11, 3-7), who held the Vandals to a paltry .172 hitting percentage.

“We just came out flat,” Buchanan said after the upset loss. “We didn’t come out to play, and we didn’t compete like we are used to. The Big West is a tough conference. Anyone can come out and beat you on any night. Hopefully, we will turn things around.”

Which is exactly what the Vandals did two nights later in sweeping UC Davis behind the splendid play of Sarah Meek, who hit .522 and registered 15 kills.

“We had better focus and we were a lot better at some things we have been working on,” Buchanan said following Saturday’s rout.