Ask DePauw's volleyball team about how to incorporate new players and few veterans.
They could provide you with the winning formula.
This weekend the Tigers dominated at their tournament at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, finishing the weekend undefeated at 4-0 for an overall record of 6-2.
"We knew coming into this tournament that every team we were going to face was going to be a quality volleyball team," said head coach Deb Zellers.
But, quality team or not, the Tigers knew exactly what to do.
"We were able to spread our offense out so that everyone was terminating and getting kills," said junior Kelly Doyle. "That was something that really helped us because going to someone every time doesn't work. We were really spreading out on offense."
The Tigers began their weekend with a match against the home team, Rose Hulman. But DePauw got the win after winning three out of the four games.
"We certainly knew Rose Hulman would be a great opponent to play," Zellers said. "We went into it mentally expecting a battle in every match."
Last year, Rose-Hulman competed in the Div. III national tournament along with Webster College, who DePauw played later in the weekend.
Even after the first match, the weekend continued to go just as they hoped with the Tigers defeating all three of their other opponents 3-0.
"We knew that they were all strong teams," Zellers said. "But that's the kind of tournament that is really valuable in our season right now, where we're not playing super easy teams but we aren't playing teams who are top ten in the country. We were able to rise to the challenge."
And indeed they did. The team not only added to its win streak, but it also had two players chosen for the all-tournament team. Freshman Faith Rolwes, who was all-tournament at last weekend's tournament as well, was chosen for the setter position alongside her sophomore teammate, Mary Kate Etling.
"[Rolwes] had a strong all-around performance offensively...She is our primary server and served very aggressively for the weekend and in that rotation played some great defense as well," Zellers said.
The Tigers look to continue their win streak Wednesday with a game at Anderson University and then a home tournament next weekend.
"Last weekend (at Washington), everyone's nerves got the best of us," Doyle said. "Then, everyone has really risen to the challenge, and we've been working really hard in practice."