BENNINGTON, Vt. - Having inherited a team that went 0-for-everything last season, Carmine Garofalo looked at his players and tried, with one question, to gauge how hungry they are heading into the 2009 campaign.
"How do you eat an elephant?" Garofalo asked his Lady Mountaineers. "One bite at a time."
The new Southern Vermont College women's volleyball coach isn't planning to take his team on safari anytime soon, but he does have aspirations of turning the program around with a patient, one-step-at-a-time philosophy. That approach seems to have paid off already, as SVC won a pair of games against Bard College last weekend - exactly two more games than the ‘08 Mountaineers won all last season.
"This past weekend was a major breakthrough, like getting a big monkey off of our backs," said Garofalo. "I feel like we've already overcome that mindset that we can't win, that we're not supposed to win."
To the contrary, Garofalo feels like SVC has the personnel and the confidence to shake things up in the New England Collegiate Conference this season - though he is careful to avoid too concrete of expectations.
"My goal is never a certain number of wins," he said. "Instead, you focus on the things you can control, and go out and play the best that you can. I have always believed that you become what you think about, and this team has a lot of confidence in themselves."
In reality, the Mountaineers really have nowhere to go but up. Last year's team went 0-22 and didn't win even a single game; in fact, the squad only broke the 20-point mark twice all season. It committed a whopping 957 errors - including 176 on serves - to its opponents' 154, meaning that other teams could often just let SVC beat itself in matches.
Garofalo has made a point of cleaning up the Mountaineers' play, beginning with the very first action of every point.
"When you see the serve coming at you, just focus on popping it up," he said. "Don't worry about the set or the hit; take it one step at a time. If we can improve by increments, and progress a little more every day, then our season will be a success."
The Mountaineers have an interesting mix of players with which to strive for that success. Returning seniors Kayleigh Moretto and Laura Sullivan will serve as two of the team's captains; the former is a tall middle hitter with the strength and reach to finish at the net, while the latter is more of a placement specialist whose arsenal of different hits from the outside should help keep opponents off-balance.
"We're hoping that Kayleigh gets more aggressive and takes control of the front row, where she can use her height and reach to her advantage," Garofalo said. "We don't expect Laura to go up there, pound balls and score 1,000 points - but she is very effective at placing the ball, and switching up her hits. Whether it's a tip or a cross-court shot, she can get the job done."
The third captain is sophomore Tasha Smith, one of several basketball players who have opted to try out volleyball this fall. The transition does entail some growing pains - both Smith and fellow sophomore Joa Claircius tend to jump straight up and strike the ball directly over their heads, rather than using an approach and making contact out in front of them.
"The goal is to turn Tasha into a volleyball player, rather than just a basketball player who happens to be playing volleyball," Garofalo said. "She has the athletic ability to be a dominant force at the net, and we will need her to develop that part of her game. I always say that defense keeps you in games, but offense helps you win them - so we're going to expect more from Tasha offensively."
An important early lesson came at Becker College last weekend, when the Mountaineers held a 24-19 advantage late in a game before allowing seven straight points and losing, 26-24. Out of timeouts, Garofalo could read enough in his players' body language to know that their confidence had lapsed - and when he asked them afterward if they had expected to lose, many admitted that was indeed the case.
"Having game point and losing is something that should never happen, and I doubt that it will ever happen again," Garofalo said. "It was a difficult thing for us to go through, but I think it was also something that we learned from."
Schedule-wise, the Mountaineers will have limited opportunities to showcase their turnaround at home - only four home dates appear on SVC's ‘09 schedule. The next one is Saturday, when Garofalo's squad hosts Johnson State and Anna Maria College beginning at 11 a.m. at the Field House.
"It would be great to have some people come out and watch us play," said the coach. "Volleyball is the second-most popular sport in the world, but it doesn't really seem to have caught on that much in Vermont. But people who come out to see us won't be disappointed, because they are going to see some more exciting volleyball than we've probably had here in a number of years."