The University of Delaware volleyball program had a breakout season in 2004, with the Fightin’ Blue Hens going 23-9 and reaching the Colonial Athletic Association championship game.

As a result, four UD players–seniors Valerie Murphy and Taylor Govaars and freshmen Allison Lutz and Colleen Walsh–were named to All-Conference teams and Head Coach Bonnie Kenny was named the CAA Co-Coach of the Year.

For Kenny, the success of her players was something she thoroughly enjoyed and will always remember. It marked an important step forward in the development of UD volleyball, what the coach sees as an important step but not the final step.

Kenny’s goal is to build a program that can sustain success atop the CAA, win conference championships and move on into the NCAA Division I championship tournament.

“The 2004 team was even better than I anticipated,” Kenny, who was previously head coach at the University of South Carolina and the University of Massachusetts, says. “The way they traveled, the way they played, the way they embraced each other as a team, they deserved every win they had. This was a very special team and a fun team to be around, and they trained as hard as they played.”

Kenny says she has learned that “you can’t take seasons like this for granted,” adding, “We’ll enjoy what we accomplished this year for a long time.”

On other hand, Kenny says, the ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA tournament. “We were extremely fortunate to play for a conference championship,” Kenny said. “But, I told the team that was just the prom. The big dance is the NCAA tournament.”

Kenny spent her own playing days at the University of Tennessee, proudly competing for the Lady Vols. She realized college was as far as she could go as a player but had long harbored dreams of becoming a coach. Her dream was realized in 1984 when, as a graduate student at South Carolina, she was hired suddenly to replace the volleyball head coach.

Kenny left South Carolina after nine seasons, having gone 171-110, to start a new volleyball program at the University of Massachusetts. She remained there for nine seasons, with a record of 169-115, when the university announced plans to drop the sport after the 2001 season.

Left without a position, Kenny turned to retired UD coach Barbara Viera, as the two had served together on the American Volleyball Coaches Association board. She applied at UD and got the job, stepping into a difficult situation with players who had just been through a new head coach and an interim head coach.

“There was a learning curve,” Kenny says. “I had to convince the players to embrace me and to buy into what I was doing. I had to earn their trust, and I had to make sure I trusted them. And I give them a lot of credit because they are the foundation of the program we have today. They should be very proud of what they have done for this program.”

Gradually earning the team’s trust, Kenny says the program built up to the point that the team began training in the off-season the way she believes they need to, and that is to train hard. “After the spring, the team knew they had trained at a different level,” Kenny says. “During the season, we had success, so they realized the training paid off.”

Although the team lost All-CAA players Murphy and Govaars, and two other seniors, Nicole Stuka and Sarah Engle, Kenny is confident about the future. “I believe we are a team that can challenge for the conference championship year in and year out, and also be in a position to win it,” she says. Part of that, she says, is because UD “is a good place to recruit.”

“If we can get the prospects on campus,” Kenny says, “we have a good chance to sign them.”

Kenny says she believes “the overall student experience here is remarkable,” and unlike what she has seen at other institutions. “Students love being here at the University of Delaware,” she says. “The campus is well kept, and the people who work here and attend school here like it.”

“Our scholar-athletes sell the program,” Kenny says. “Here, students find they can have a great academic experience and a great athletic experience.”

Kenny says her philosophy in the recruiting process is to “get good people and get good students, and they would not be on our list if they were not good volleyball players who could help us on the court.”
“Team sports are very much about chemistry,” she says, “and I have found that people who disrupt chemistry usually disrupt success.”

For Kenny, it is more important to have a good program that can sustain itself over a long period of time than to have a good team for just one year. And that required hard work. “Championships are not just something that happen,” she says. “They happen because of what you do in the spring and summer, before the fall season. That’s what gets you to the championship. We don’t want to be outworked.”

She believes the Hens will maintain a high work rate, on and off the court. “Our players are dedicated,” she says. “They want to be good role models and do good things in the community. And they have done a great job of embracing our freshmen and making them feel welcome.”

Kenny attributes that to assistant coach Cindy Gregory, who has established a big sister-little sister program and encourages frequent e-mail messages.

In addition to Gregory and the players, Kenny credits UD’s athletics administration with helping the rise of the volleyball program. “I can see the entire athletics department evolving,” she says. “We are knocking at the door for CAA championships, and that is encouraging. The administration has made sure that Delaware is in a good conference and that it can be competitive.”

Also helping is a home court advantage on Barbara Viera Court in the Carpenter Sports Building. “We only lost one match in 2004 on Viera Court,” she says. “I like that people don’t like to play us here. We play pretty well at home.”

“I love it here,” Kenny says. “This is the best job I’ve ever had.”

Although the very young Hens had a more difficult season in 2005, going 11-20 overall and 7-11 in the conference, the future looks bright for 2006. They return Heather Ranck, who led the CAA with 5.14 digs per game, Colleen Walsh, who was fifth in the CAA with 3.39 kills per game and sixth with 3.83 points per game, and Allison Lutz, who was eighth in the conference with 8.62 assists per game.

Also back will be Kelly Gibson, a strong hitter who came on as the season progressed. Gibson ended the season with 2.96 kills per game.