The Bruins volleyball team began its inaugural season this fall . The team may be young and learning but shows promise.

Head coach Vickie Denny  said she feels the team is where it should be at this point in the season. She desires for the team to develop a higher knowledge of the game, or “Volleyball I.Q.”

Out of the team’s 14 players, seven are returning students who played for the club team this past spring. The other seven are new and transfer students.

“It’s harder for them,” Marjorie Elliott, one of the returning players, said about the new and transfer student athletes.  Already familiar with BJU, returning students are learning how to fit the intensity of volleyball into the normal stress of the semester.

The new and transfer students have to get acquainted with both BJU and the intense schedule at the same time. Time management is a skill that is essential for student athletes.

“That will define us—how we handle the stress,” Elliott said.

“They have a really good spirit, and they work well together,” Denny said.

Denny said the team accomplished a lot during their three-week preseason. The team practiced from nine in the morning until nine at night. During the preseason, the team took a trip to Tennessee to play two games and also to rest and spend quality time together has a team.

“Fourteen individuals came together, and our focus is unity,” Elliott said.

With a diverse representation of majors from culinary arts to nursing to piano pedagogy, the team has focused on coming together as just that, a team.

“We each bring something different to the table,” Elliott said.

Elliott described the team’s attitude toward being the first Bruins volleyball team in one word: “Thankful.” The Lady Bruins volleyball team believes that God has brought them to where they are for a purpose, and they are excited to live out that purpose.

“We are excited to represent Bob Jones and our awesome student body on the court,” Elliott said.

The team suffered some injuries in the preseason. Denny praised the team’s athletic trainer, Taylor Wilson, and the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Kara Potts, for their work in helping the players take care of their bodies.

The team will play over 40 matches this season. “Our goal is to be competitive in our region,” Denny said.