As UNCW’s head volleyball coach Amy Gardner sat in her office eating lunch, she only thought about the future. Coming off a dismal season of only winning two conference matches, Coach Gardner sees a vision of improvement for next year.

“We are losing two very special seniors, but we have a solid core of young players returning,” Gardner said.

Next year the team will, once again, only boast two seniors, but the majority of the experience will come from the junior class. Seven juniors will suit up for the Seahawks next season and of those seven, three played over 80 games each this year. There will also be four sophomores on next year’s squad, three of whom also saw significant playing time this season.

This abundance of young talent has the coaching staff smelling success in the near future.

“As the season progressed I was pleased with the improvement of our passing game,” Gardner said. “We have been playing smarter and have grown mentally since the season began. We started to see the game better, which is something we will build on.”

She also mentioned that the team showed a lot of heart and determination even when things weren’t going well, which bodes for a mentally tough team next year.

The coaching staff also realizes that it is going to take a lot of hard work in the off-season to be in position to reach the team’s goal.

“Our goal is to reach the conference tournament,” Gardner said, “but in order for that to be realistic we will need to work hard and become mentally and physically stronger.”

Reaching the conference tournament is not an easy task, considering only the top four teams from the eight-team conference earn berths. The Seahawks last appearance in the tournament was in 2000.

“Throughout all the talk about next season, Coach Gardner and assistant coach Amy Schreiber couldn’t help bragging about their graduating seniors. “The two seniors we had this year are irreplaceable,” Coach Schreiber said. “Bea Gerevich and Jen Mais are irreplaceable as players, leaders and as people.”

The two seniors led the team in just about every statistical category. Bea Gerevich recorded nine triple-doubles on the season, which is considered as tough in volleyball as it is basketball.

The volleyball team finished the season with an overall record of 6-20 and a conference record of 2-12.