After defeating Bethel on Wednesday, Taylor has secured their spot in the upcoming Crossroads League Tournament on Nov. 9-16.
This was Taylor’s final regular season game, finishing the year with an overall record of 11-19 and a conference record of 6-12.
Now, the Trojans are starting to prepare for their final stretch and improve their skills. They won’t have an easy path through the tournament and will take on No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan in the quarterfinals.
The CL Tournament is held annually at the conclusion of the regular season and features the top eight teams from the conference. The winner of the tournament is guaranteed a spot in the NAIA National Tournament, making the prize of a victory enticing for teams that struggled through the regular season. It is structured with the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the championship game.
Head coach, Erin Luthy, gave her thoughts on preparing for the tournament.
She said no season preparation looks the same as the year before. The Trojans need to be at their best right now, she said.
For this year’s tournament, Coach Luthy plans on not switching up lots of things and sticking with what the Trojans do best. She highlighted her team’s great defense and hitting abilities.
Luthy coaches the team to love their teammates and to ultimately, love their Lord. She makes practices harder or easier when necessary, and she has set roles for each player.
“I think just keeping them hungry and passionate about playing for the Lord, playing for each other, and being at their absolute best is really important,” Luthy said.
Luthy believes that if the team plays volleyball the Taylor way, then TU could make an impact in this year’s tournament.
Luckily for the Trojans, they are surrounded by many talented players, including junior defensive specialist McKaylah Flagle and junior rightside hitter Reagan Salzbrenner. Flagle recently won the CL Defender of the Week award, her third time receiving this award in her career. Salzbrenner has played in 27 matches and has 135 kills on the year.
Flagle believes in the team’s abilites to display their talents and to win. But she highlighted being mentally ready as the biggest aspect of preparation.
“So I think just the biggest thing is preparing our mental game and making sure that we are steady, focused and calm going into the tournament, and also confident,” Flagle said.
She also said there is some room for improvement, offensively and defensively. Strengthening their personal confidence and having a winning desire will help them, Flagle added.
Flagle said the team learns from mistakes and doesn’t hold them over their heads. She said seeing their positive development from day one has helped them keep going. She also highlighted that Coach Luthy has done well at encouraging them to improve and uplifting them and the team is hungry and eager to get going.
Reagan Salzbrenner said the team has scouted their opponents well. However, she said the most important aspect is working on their end of the court.
“Because, you know, if we can’t take care of our ball on our side, then it doesn’t really matter what the other side is doing,” Salzbrenner said.
Salzbrenner also highlighted discipline as being important. She talked about becoming more disciplined as something that would help them score extra points.
It’s important to note that these extra points add up, and defeat can ensue as a result of small errors adding up to a loss.
“And our conference is really, really tough and really equal this year, so it’s the little points and the little things that really come down to it at the end of the day,” Salzbrenner said.
Salzbrenner said the team is special, in that the team is a family, even if they aren’t in a game. She highlighted the team’s faith and relying on each other.
Salzbrenner, Flagle and the rest of the Trojans will be led by Luthy in the Crossroads League Tournament starting on Nov. 9
