Linda Sagnelli has seen plenty of different teams throughout her tenure as Central Connecticut volleyball’s head coach, 20 to be exact. These teams have often been successful, proven no better than by Sagnelli’s 307 career wins with CCSU. So when she continually has high praises for this year’s team, it’s something to watch out for.

Talk is cheap for some, but Sagnelli has the facts to back up her faith in the team. Central has most of last year’s core returning, a strong group that showcased strong individual seasons while playing off of each other as a team when it mattered most. The team boasted the best hitting percentage in the league while also leading the NEC in blocks on the other side of the ball.

Coming off a crushing defeat in five sets to the would be champion Bryant Bulldogs, the Blue Devils trained with an extra edge coming into the spring.

“Sometimes you have maybe two or three athletes that have a really great spring,” but as Sagnelli sees it, “We had 10 this year.”

The Blue Devils all had one goal in mind as they went through spring camp: making each day their best one.

With so much of the team returning this season, the only change is an even tighter bond and communication.

“When you have such a strong core coming back,” Sagnelli explains, “They are simply just one year older and bring that experience with them, they really grow together and they are better. So we saw a lot of improvement in our core, then added in five new players.”

After having no freshman on the roster last season, there will now be four rookies on the team, along with the addition of sophomore transfer Natalie Novak out of Binghamton.

Despite having to adjust to their new home, Sagnelli says the five newcomers to the team have all adapted easily to play at the next level. “They just got thrown right into the mix and just started at the pace that we were already at,” Sagnelli said. “It’s great.”

On their quick development in the program, Sagnelli attributes the learning style as the biggest help.

“I think a lot of learning comes from modeling behavior. Instead of being told what to do, they actually see what speed we want to practice at and how we want to behave and how we want to compete and focus.”

The success of volleyball’s spring training has left Sagnelli and the team with high hopes for this upcoming season.

“I have really loved every single day of preseason,” Sagnelli professed. “First of all they are just a phenomenal group, from one to 15 I couldn’t ask for better people; better student athletes on the team.”

As mentioned by Sagnelli, volleyball’s academic performance is just as impressive as their work on the court. The team finished with a 3.62 average last semester, winning the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, the 13th year in a row the team has earned the acknowledgement. Their 3.62 average was the highest among athletics, something Sagnelli is very happy to report.

” [I’m] incredibly proud of the team as a whole,” Sagnelli said. “As a coaching staff, you look to recruit athletes that can handle that academic load and compete. We know the time demands that go into that process, so we work hard on recruiting and bringing in student athletes that are good enough in all the aspects of their life to handle that and be a good representative of Central. That’s what we have.”

Central Connecticut will be led by a trio of captains this season: Madeline Kaprelyan, Erin McDermott and Mackenzie Dobbins. They will put their work done this spring to the test this weekend as they take on the Georgetown Invitational Tournament in Washington D.C.