BILLINGS — For the Rocky Mountain College volleyball seniors, this is their third head coach and their last shot — and they have no intention of wasting it.
First-year coach Lauren Revering inherited a program that finished 3-25 last season and is now pushing to turn things around. She said she understands the urgency her upperclassmen feel.
"I think we just continue to harp on dig or die, and what that looks like, and never letting the ball hit the floor without effort, intensity and all those kinds of things," Revering told MTN Sports.
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Players say the new coach has already changed the vibe.
"She's so knowledgeable and she has so much wisdom about the game. She brings so much energy into the program, too, which I really, really love," middle blocker Kaitlyn Wood said.
Right-side hitter Ella Kincaid said Revering's fiery nature is contagious.
"I think another thing that she's really bringing is, she's really competitive — which I think is transferring to all of us," Kincaid said.
The Battlin' Bears open their season Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the University of Saint Francis tournament in San Antonio during a round robin classic. Competition for a plane ticket has been fierce throughout the offseason.
"We're taking 14 girls; we've got 26 on the roster," Revering said. "So, they've had to step on the floor, in the weight room and in the conditioning setting, whether we're outside or inside, and prove they want to be on that flight."
Here’s something you don’t often see these days in college: there’s not a single transfer player on the Battlin’ Bears roster.
Early indications show that if opponents judge this year’s team based on last year’s record, Rocky won’t fly under the radar for long.
"I really think we're going to be scrappy, we're not going to let balls drop,” Kincaid said. “I think we're going to have a lot of grit — I think it's going to be really hard to take us down.”
Noticeable energy inside the gym already reflects a swing within the program.
"It's awesome,” Wood said. “I feel like our gym is just so full of life.”
