White Shines as Young Mavericks Wrap Up Season

Coach Alan Clements and the Mercy College volleyball team knew the 2011 season would be a difficult one. With a team flooded with underclassmen in the very competitive ECC, the Mavericks would need to fight and claw for every victory.

The team was hovering around mediocrity in early October when several key contributors went down with illness and injuries, which helped put the team on an 8-game tailspin. Most young teams would have folded under the pressure, but the Mavericks were able to regroup and come together down the stretch, winning two of their final three games.

“We just went through a time where people were hurt and sick and we had to change things up,” said Clements. “Once everyone came back it took us a while to get back in the flow of things.”

The situation thrust the young Mavericks into key positions early, and Clements was pleased to see how his extraordinary freshmen reacted to the pressure of substantial playing time.

“I was expecting a lot from this freshman group,” Clements said. “I think our two setters did a great job, McKenna Ronan and Michala Askew. Ericka Kane led us in passing as a freshman, which is a pretty good accomplishment.”

While the accomplishments of those freshman would be enough to make any head coach smile, it was Nevada-native Brenna White who led the Mavericks this season. Clements found White while recruiting one of her teammates and, after a quiet visit to Dobbs Ferry, White was sold on Mercy.

White was recently named All-ECC first-team. In her freshman season White is currently leading the nation in kills, recently recording number 600.

“She didn’t mention (her 600th kill) and that shows the kind of person she is, but she is leading the country at a little DII school in Dobbs Ferry, New York, that’s pretty good,” Clements said. “She took a lot of swings, but that is because we needed her to, and the fact that she was physically capable of that was pretty amazing.”

At 5’11’’ White is the tallest player on the Mavericks. Her skill and the lack of size surrounding her have caused opposing defenses to key in on the freshman. She often faced double and triple-teams. Next year the Mavericks are hoping to add some more height, but either way the freshman will be spending her off-season improving her play around the net.

“I definitely need to get better in some parts of my game, I need to learn to tip and be a smarter hitter,” White said. “My passing can be a lot better, there are just a couple of small things that I really need to work on."

White doesn’t plan on resting on the success of her previous season, after leading the nation in kills in her first year she is already looking forward to what she can do as a sophomore.

“I should be good,” White said, “this will push me a lot more in the off season. I can definitely feel the pressure, but I think it’s good.”

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