Coming off her 200th win, head volleyball coach Alysha Humpert sat down with The Rider Chronicle to share her thoughts about this season.

Q: After your first few games, how have your expectations for the team changed?

A: I wouldn’t say my expectations have changed because ultimately, I always want to set high standards for the girls, but I think it’s how we’re getting there that’s a little bit different. I want them to be obtainable. I don’t want them to be something too out of reach where they never see that success, so we’re kind of just focusing on how we look at those expectations to get them to where they’ll ultimately be reaching them, hopefully by the time district gets here.

Q: What does earning your 200th win feel like?

A: Honestly, I didn’t realize how monumental that was until people started congratulating me and telling me it’s so cool. I just didn’t realize the impact of it because I’ve never really been focused on wins and losses, but now that I’ve kind of realized what it actually means, it’s special and it seems even more special because all the wins were here at Rider.

Q: What are your concerns for this year?

A: A concern would probably be not preparing the girls enough. That’s a personal concern. Making sure I do everything possible to set them up for success, whether it’s winning or playing their best. I don’t want to ever leave a day or leave a practice where I could’ve done something a little better. That’s a concern of mine and my concern for the girls is that they could get to live in and love the moment because I want them to do that always and if they do, hopefully the return will be good plays and experience.

2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th win in the books. All the girls who have came through this program, the ones in it now, and @Coach_Ciuba of course are the reason 🏐💛🖤 @Hull_TRN @KfdxTobin @ROHOathletics pic.twitter.com/btjzqtQ1pE

— RiderVolleyball (@ROHOVolleyball) August 10, 2019

Q: Which players have really impressed you this season?

A: They all ultimately impress me, but I would say that we had some people step up in roles they’ve never had to in the past. Like Saige Ward, she is now playing libero, which she hasn’t done that before and she’s doing a good job at being a calming presence on the floor. Addy Self on the right side is doing a good job because she’s ultimately being a big dominant force over there, setting the block and we’re slowing a lot of balls down up at the net when in the past years, we’ve had lots of balls coming at us. I think Grace Welch has done a good job, coming up off the bench and serving as that role player if one of our six rotation players are having some bad passing, she’ll come in, two, three, four rotations whatever it is and she’s been executing those serve receive balls that we need at crucial times.

Q: After many of your players have graduated, how has your coaching style changed now that you don’t have as many veteran players?

A: I would say after coaching like 10 years for the varsity team, you see it kind of go full-circle and what I see myself doing is I remember like how we are now, like four years ago when those veteran players were freshmen. So, I think I just have to remember that I need to make sure that they value the little successes because if we have a lot of mini little successes, it will lead to big ones. I just need to keep my focus on telling them to keep trying and pushing, take risks and you may have results that you don’t want, but ultimately eventually, high risk equals higher reward.