Gamecocks welcome four teams in season-opening tournament
Then, last season, coach Scott Swanson came in from Minnesota to take over the squad and promptly doubled the wins from the 2010 season in his first year.
While USC won just five SEC games last year, sophomore middle blocker Cara Howley, who is also one of three team captains, noticed a difference from the season before.
"When Coach Swanson came in, he completely changed the system," Howley said. "We had better success and you could see it in the numbers. Not only that, but we got a training staff and everything became completely organized. It was almost like a breath of fresh air when they all got here."
That breath of fresh air carried the Gamecocks off to a 9-1 start last season before running into the SEC schedule, where they won just five of the 19 league games. Swanson says his team was just not "ready for the big leagues," something he hopes to change this season.
"The Tennessee's and the Florida's and the top schools in the conference are still more physical and more talented than us," Swanson said. "But I think we are going to compete against them a whole lot better than we did last year. Instead of losing 3-0 with some pretty lopsided scoring, I could see us winning some games on a night where we're playing our best and they're maybe a little down."
USC will begin the 2012 season Friday night by hosting the Gamecock Invitational. The Gamecocks will play Temple, Akron, East Tennessee State and UNC-Asheville over a span of two days. Because it will be the first regular season action for all five teams, Swanson does not know what to expect.
"I think that if you ask someone in the volleyball world, they're going to say, 'Well, an SEC team should beat all of these teams,'" Swanson said. "The thing about preseason and all of those factors is that we have no idea how good or bad some of these teams are going to be. They could have gotten a couple foreign players that have raised their level big time, or could have some players who have suffered some injuries. We just don't know what to expect, and we're not taking anyone for granted."
Swanson, who compiled a 125-46 record with five NCAA tournament appearances in five seasons at Minnesota, feels his team is more athletic this season and has set a team goal of breaking the .500 mark in 2012.
If the Gamecocks are able to break even this season, they must do so with eight of the 17 players on roster being freshmen. Because these freshmen make up nearly half of the team, they will be counted on to continue the Gamecocks' upward climb. Swanson said he believes the young players have gotten off to a good start.
"They have adjusted pretty well," Swanson said. "The speed of the serving for the passers is still an issue I think. It's going to take some time for them to adjust to how fast the ball is coming over the net now as to where it was in club and high school."
"I feel like they have really integrated into our team," Howley added. "This preseason they have really done tremendously."
Because of the rugged SEC schedule, Swanson says it is important to take care of business against nonconference opponents. While USC did a good job of that last season, they must now carry that over into SEC competition.
"What is really on our mind is how good we can get before our third tournament," Swanson said. "I think it's crucial (to get off to a good start) because our conference is so tough. If we don't take care of business now, we're going to have a tough row to hoe the rest of the way."