Despite starting the season 4-0, the West Virginia volleyball team now sits at 5-2.
The Mountaineers beat Army but fell to UNC-Charlotte and George Mason at last weekend's Patriot Invitational.
"We definitely learned a lot about ourselves as a team," said WVU head coach Jill Kramer. "We went through some adversity, and we could see how we could fight through that and we did."
Kramer likes the effort put forth by her team. She is more worried about her team's progress than the wins and losses at this point in the season. Kramer said she wants to make sure her team is prepared and getting better with each practice.
"Winning and losing isn't our focus; everything that leads up to it is," Kramer said.
Kramer felt the team needed to do some fine-tuning this week. She believes the team has been spending too much time focusing on the opponents and not enough time working on their own strengths.
"We have to keep the focus on us, and I expect us to do that. I really feel like when that happens we're much more successful, in that we get better," Kramer said.
The Mountaineers spent their practice Monday working on their offense and spent their practice Tuesday working on the defensive end.
"Getting our offensive and defensive systems working together is going to be key," Kramer said. "The winning will take care of itself."
The first-year coach knows the girls have put the time in and is glad to see the results translating on the court.
"They are a really driven group of girls. They were in here over the summer working out at 5:15 in the morning," Kramer said.
Kramer added with a laugh: "They have put in the work, it's not like they just showed up, and said let's get going. That was me."
Senior Abby Norman and junior Serinna Russo were praised by their coach this week. Kramer admired the effort and flexibility of Norman and the intelligence and leadership of Russo.
Norman's natural position is to play outside hitter, but during the tournament was asked to play middle. She exceeded expectations as Kramer called her performance a promising one.
Russo, a junior from California has played steady this season racking up 57 kills to go along with 87 digs.
Kramer said, "I like to call her our heartbeat, when she is out there it's like having another coach on the court."
Senior captain Bonnie West is 74 digs away from being the school's career leader in digs.
WVU, first takes on host Wake Forest Friday at 7 p.m. followed by a double-header Saturday. The first game will be at 10 a.m. against East Carolina (0-6) followed by a 4 p.m. date with Campbell (0-6).
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