Digging In: Takeaways from Spring Volleyball

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Since the last installment of ‘Digging In’ the Michigan State volleyball program wrapped up its spring scrimmage season, playing a total of four weekends and facing off against plenty of tough regional competition. Michigan, Indiana, Bowling Green and Ball State were just a few of the in-region opponents that the Spartans challenged themselves against during the spring.
 
While we’re not going to dive deep into results and numbers from those matches, Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson sat down to discuss her three biggest takeaways (and some additional tidbits) from the spring slate to provide insight into what improvements the team has made since the 2022 season concluded in November.

1. Significant Gains in the Weight Room

Through working with associate director of athletic performance Casey Akenberger and director of sports science Dr. Bill Burghardt, the Michigan State volleyball program made significant gains on the strength and conditioning side this spring.

“Most of our student-athletes made tremendous gains physically,” Johnson said. “We saw verticals increase, body compositions improve and improvements in our overall well-being.”

For a bulk of the MSU squad this was their first full off-season to train their whole game as well as their physical fitness. Six Spartans were freshmen last season, so they didn’t join the team until the summer and two are early enrollee freshmen who got their first taste of the collegiate volleyball experience this spring. Michigan State’s seven upperclassmen had their previous springs impacted by either COVID-19, a forthcoming transfer to MSU or Michigan State’s small spring roster in 2022.

 

2. Changing Our Mindset

In addition to their gains in the weight room, Michigan State volleyball’s student-athletes also made the most of their meetings with director of student-athlete wellness Dr. Molly McQueary. The program met with Dr. McQueary weekly throughout the spring to learn more about what it means to have a high-performance mentality.

Dr. McQueary helped the Spartans learn about and practice the application of key skills within a high-performance mindset. Those skills included self-talk re-framing, focus and calmness. All skills that will allow the Spartans to reach their highest potential next season. Self-talk is your inner voice,…