Getting ready for its first season in 45 years, Vanderbilt Volleyball has spent the spring playing in exhibition matches. Earlier this year, in March, the nascent squad played its first competition against Tennessee and its second against Louisville. The Commodores lost both games. They most recently took on Lipscomb in another exhibition game on April 4 and grabbed their first exhibition win. While the Commodores took four sets off the Bison in the five sets they played, each set was a tight back-and-forth. Head coach Anders Nelson had a few thoughts after the game, first commenting on Lipscomb as an opponent. 

“[Lipscomb] came at us just as hard as the last two teams we played — Tennessee and Louisville — so they’re a really good serving team,” Nelson said.

Vanderbilt managed to win over the Bisons in almost every set, with the team pulling away in most of the back halves. Nelson attributed the rallies to settling in while also shouting out the team’s leader, Isabella Bareford. 

“I think our passers just finally settled in strategically. What we were trying to work on is our offense; we just needed [it] as balanced as it could be,” Nelson said. ”I thought Isa [Bareford] did a really good job of balancing out the offense. And as the sets went on and as the match got deeper with Isa setting, it was really hard for them to know who to stop because we were setting all of our hitters.” 

Bareford came to Vanderbilt as a graduate transfer from Loyola Marymount. On a team of mostly underclassmen, Nelson has relied on her to help guide this squad through its first few college-level competitions. 

“Isa is our team captain in every way, and she’s got the pulse of the team and a great pulse of what it takes to win at a high level,” Nelson said. “I don’t know where we [would be] without Isa, and I tell her that a lot, just because she’s such a great North Star for our team.”

While Bareford’s impact was apparent, the efforts of first-year duo Reese Animashaun and Kayla Dunlap were also unmissable. Whether sailing for kill shots or stuffing opponent’s shots at the net, the all-around tandem’s stand-out effort was the source of many of the crowd’s loudest reactions. Yet, Nelson insisted that this was only the beginning for this duo.

“What’s cool about Reese and Kayla is they’re both freshmen, and Kayla is a mid-year freshman — Kayla is supposed to be in high school right now,” Nelson said. “Both of them are two of the better learners on our team, so they’re just growing and getting better so [quickly] right now and that’s pretty special to watch. We know that they’re gonna be huge parts of our offense come the fall.”

As the team moves on from its match against Lipscomb, it has one more exhibition test against Purdue in Indianapolis, Indiana. Looking retrospectively at the previous three matches, Nelson was impressed by how ready the team was to face high-level competition. 

“We’re more composed in tough moments than I expected. We played a lot of really close sets so far this spring, and we’ve done a really good job in those close sets. So that’s something that I’ve been really impressed with,” Nelson said. 

But the night was not all smooth sailing for the young team. Early in the fourth set, the squad found itself down by five. The Black and Gold managed to dig themselves out of the deficit and even took a lead of two points nearing the end of the fourth frame. The Bisons, however, rallied and prevented the Commodores’ comeback, as a late defensive slowdown caused Vanderbilt to drop its only set of the day. Nelson was adamant about changing this competitive inconsistency after the match. 

“We’re trying to be better at being more consistent competitors. So we talk about being ready for the next point more often than the other team, and that’s something that I think we’ve got too many dips and ebbs and flows [in] right now,” Nelson said.

As the Commodores even out their competitive rhythm ahead of their final exhibition match against Purdue, Nelson hopes the team’s enthusiasm will trickle down to the students and fans.

“I’ll say this: the sooner [the fans] can get behind us, the better. One thing I really hope is that we can get a rocking student section right off the bat, and I hope that they take some pride in it. So let’s really show up for the team in terms of the student section,” Nelson said.

The Black and Gold will close their series of scrimmages over the past two years of preparation for next year’s season with a trip to Indianapolis on April 12, when they will take on Purdue.