The team finished last season with a record of 12-16 (7-7) including just 6-7 at home, 4-7 away, and a 2-2 record on neutral sites. The team lost a few key players from last season, including Shelbie Dailey and Kimika Rozier, but they do return stars such as Casey Albano, J'beria Davis, and Valerie El Houssine to bring back a talented roster. Along with the veteran players, the Bulls assembled a talented recruiting class with names such as Erin Taylor, Chynna Ratner, and Kayla Bivins joining the stampede as the team looks to make a strong run in the Big East this season and get into the postseason. The roster has a strong nucleus of senior players that have been with the program for years and a big group of young players that bring raw talent into the mix. It will be interesting to see how the team meshes together early in the season, especially when the Big East portion of the schedule begins.
The biggest change to the Bulls this season is the departure of coach Claire Lessinger. After 8 successful seasons, Coach Lessinger stepped down from the position to tend to her mother who was diagnosed with cancer (USF nation always got your back coach, thank you for everything). The coaching search did not last long as athletics named Eckerd College head coach Courtney Draper to the position as HC.
Draper, the former 4-year star at FSU, has been the head coach of Eckerd for the last 8 seasons, totaling a career record of 160-118 during that time. While leading the Tritons over in St. Pete, coach Draper's team made 5 DII NCAA appearances, making it to the second round in 2009 and the third round in 2011. Several of her players were named to NCAA teams and her track record has a long list of impressive accomplishments, but now she takes over a team and program hungry and ready to take it to the next level. Coach Draper has a very talented team that has been working hard this off season and should be ready to make some noise in 2012. There will be some growing pains as she figures out the D1 level and finds the right mix in rotations on her team, but the talent is there and as motivated as Draper and the team are, it should be a fun easy to watch.
So what can we expect from the 2011 team? Losing a star like Shelbie Dailey at the setter position will be hard for the team to replace and with several freshmen on the roster, there could be a few growing pains, but the Bulls have such a strong returning corps of players from El Houssine, Davis, Albano, Walton, and others, the young players will learn quick, be mixed into the rotation, and will have a major impact early and often for Coach Draper. We look for the 2012 team to finish with a strong winning record, to make a Big East run, and if the battle hard enough, they could be in the postseason. The team is talented, they have their home back and Coach Draper will have the ladies right. The team faces Wisconsin, Creighton, and UCF to open the season, so a lot will be known after that short tournament to see how far the team can go, we can't wait.
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