Strong weekend for volleyball

This past weekend, Xavier volleyball opened up their season in the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup in Houston, Texas, winning two out of three matches. The tournament, hosted by the University of Houston, bears the name of the former Houston Cougar great Flo Hyman. Hyman is considered to be the greatest U.S. volleyball player of all time. She led the U.S. National Team to the gold medal match in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. At age 31, she fatally collapsed while playing in a professional match in Japan, and the tournament is now played annually in her honor to begin each college volleyball season in Houston. On Friday, the Muskies rolled into Houston to face two NCAA Tournament teams from last year. Lipscomb and Central Arkansas. The Musketeers defeated both of their Friday opponents in three straight sets. On Saturday, they fell to the host school Cougars, who were picked to finish third in Conference USA this season. Xavier played a rotation ten players deep.

When asked if head coach Mike Johnson expects to cut down that rotation to fewer players deeper into the season, he said, "I hope not." "Competition is a fundamental tenent of this program," Johnson said. "I want every player leaving every practice thinking they've earned a spot." Individually, senior Michelle Matia and redshirt sophomore Alex Smith led the way. Both were named to the All-Tournament team.

True freshman Aubree Smith, sister of Alex, was also  named as the A-10 Rookie of the Week. Johnson is very pleased with the production of his younger players this season. "We're really excited for the future of this program," Johnson said. According to Johnson, he's also very fortunate to have a senior

leader like Matia to guide the younger  players along. "Michelle has been a driving force as a leader for us," Johnson said. Next up for the Musketeers is the Maryland Invitational in College Park, Md.

On Friday, Xavier will face Quinnipiac before challenging Virginia Commonwealth University.

They will then face the host school, University of Maryland, on Saturday. "The competition [we are facing]

relates very well to A-10 conference play," Johnson said. He says his approach is to schedule the toughest conference games in order to prepare for the A-10. Johnson doesn't necessarily worry much about who he is playing each week from a scouting perspective. "We're more concerned with what we do. We're competing against ourselves," Johnson said.