Yerty likes 'her team'

Richard Anderson photo
First-year Cowgirl volleyball head coach Carrie Yerty talks things over with senior libero Carissa Lee Saturday during practice.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The battle cry for many new coaches is “wait until I get my own athletes.”

Carrie Yerty has her athletes, she says, even if a majority are not her recruits.

“The girls who are here, they are my girls from day one,” said Yerty, whose Cowgirls opened fall volleyball drills on Saturday with three-a-days at the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Yerty was named the Cowgirls’ 12th head coach in team history in February, succeeding Pat Stangle, who guided the team to a 50-59 record in four seasons.

Not only has Yerty stated that these Cowgirls are her players, she said it is important that they understand that she believes that they are her players. And that’s whether it is for a year or for four years.

“Transition and change is hard for anybody in any realm of life,” she said. “I think the kids have embraced the new staff, embraced the new philosophies. They helped us sign seven for next year. I have a lot of respect for these kids.”

For Yerty and her staff, the first thing that they hope to establish as a group is to not look in the rear-view mirror.

“We’re looking straight ahead. I think that is really going to be key,” Yerty said. “I think that the core of kids who are here are great kids, they are competitive kids. They are going through a transition and that has been tough. But I think they are really excited about it. They can share the excitement that the coaching staff has for this opportunity. We’re going to see progress.”

While building relationships are critical for the Cowgirls, Yerty said they will also be looking to build themselves up mentally and physically with a demanding and challenging preseason.

“I think we’re going to establish expectations immediately,” she said. “I think the girls are ready for it; they have been training all summer. We’re also going to do a lot of different things to build relationships to get to know each other. You have to have a real balance of the physical aspects and the fun aspects, the relationship building, in order to have a good team. I think we’re going to have nice balance.”

Three practices a day to begin might not be most athletes’ idea of fun, but there is a method to her madness, Yerty said with a smile.

“I think that is more to just get into the gym to train and get to know each other,” she said. “Is it going to be challenging? I hope so. I don’t want to kill them, I need them. But I think they understand the expectations of what they should have been doing over the summer time and what they should be doing from this point forward is a little bit different than what they have had in the past.”

The Cowgirls lost four starters from last season, including the program’s all-time leader in kills in Rachel Smith, along with hard-hitting Angie Hellbaum. Senior setter Tasha Weishahn and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Whitney are the lone starters back, although senior liberos Samantha Ely and Carissa Lee have a few floor burns to their credit in the last three seasons.

To put it bluntly, the Cowgirls will once again be young and inexperienced.

“I think you have to keep into consideration that this program lost 90 percent of its offense,” Yerty said. “Everybody who is on the team here, except for Tasha, has very limited roles on this team. That is exciting for them. That’s a challenge, and that’s an opportunity. We’re going to very young. But you can expect to see a very competitive team, a very physically-fit team, probably better than you have seen in the past years since the Mike English Era.

“I think you will see the excitement and fun back in the gym. That’s huge for me. College athletics is an avenue for the rest of your life. It is supposed to prepare you to be a competitor; it is supposed to prepare you to pick up time-management skills, problem solving, and those kinds of things. That’s what we are going to focus on, building our volleyball IQ, building relationships and being competitive.”

The Cowgirls have had just three winning seasons (20-11 in 2002, 16-14 in 1998, 19-12 in 1997) in the last 12 years. Wyoming hasn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 1994.

Yerty doesn’t have a timetable for returning the Cowgirls to those glory days, but she said that she believes that is in the program’s future.

“Fortunately for me, the community of Laramie loves volleyball,” Yerty said. “Our volleyball arena is probably the nicest volleyball arena in the Mountain West Conference. Those two things are an added bonus. Are we going to work towards going to the NCAA Tournament? Of course. Do we want to build the program up the way that Mike English left it? Absolutely. There have been some good teams here since then and some very talented players. Now we just have to get the good players, the good team and the mental side of the game and move forward every day.”

One step at a time.