If they didn't feel like they had enough time for their volleyball season opener, the Jefferson City Jays got a little bit more when it was pushed back a day.
Still, that might not be enough for their first-year head coach.
Following three weeks of practices, the Lady Jays start the season when they host St. Joseph's Academy at 3 p.m. today at Fleming Fieldhouse. The match was shifted from Friday to avoid a conflict with the opening night of the football season.
"You never feel like you have enough time - when the first game gets here, you always wish you had more," Lady Jays coach Lisa Hoffmeyer said. "But as far as kids working hard in preparation, we feel like we're ready to play volleyball.
"We're starting off with one of the better teams in the state, so we'll know fast where we are."
St. Joseph's Academy is coming off a 28-7 season where it lost in the Class 4 quarterfinals to eventual state champion Lafayette. The Lady Jays, meanwhile, graduated the bulk of the players who put together a 21-12-2 season that ended in the Class 4 sectional round.
"That's part of the reason why we love this match right off the bat, because it tells the ladies where our weaknesses are, what things we have done well and what we need to do differently moving forward," Hoffmeyer said.
Hoffmeyer, who moved up after serving as JV coach the past two seasons, said there has been a bit of an acclimation period between the players and their new coach.
"But we're fortunate in the fact that I did have a lot of these girls last year, so the transition was made a little easier," she said. "Most of them know what to expect. Every kid we have on this current varsity squad I have coached at some point already."
With very little varsity experience among the players, Hoffmeyer said adjusting to the level of play has started with the way practices are run.
"We just try to go faster, harder," she said. "Everything in practice looks a little bit different. We're not slowing it down any longer, we're trying to go uptempo with every single thing we do."
The Lady Jays graduated a core group of players that keyed three straight state playoff appearances, with some of them starting for four years on the varsity.
"We do talk about the fact that we don't have a bunch of standout all-star athletes," Hoffmeyer said. "Our motto this year is "Better together,' and we're trying to embrace the fact that every single one of us is going to have to step up and do some things we're maybe not expected to do."
A lot of work in the preseason centered around being smarter, especially on the offensive end.
"Sometimes we have little kids trying to do big things with the ball," Hoffmeyer said. "We have to see the court better and we have to understand why we're doing what we're doing. Instead of just trying to hammer down and bury a ball, we have to think and see and put the ball in a place instead of trying to hit it as hard as we can. We're doing that sometimes now and it's not paying off most of the time."
One of the few areas where the Lady Jays have some varsity experience is at setter, where senior Maggie Albert returns.
"She's experienced, has the background, has the knowledge, has the ability," Hoffmeyer said. "We'll center a lot of our offense around her."
The Lady Jays ran a 5-1 offense with Albert last year, with her as the lone setter among five hitters. They'll be switching to a 6-2 offense that features junior Jenna Massie as the other setter.
The middle hitters for Jefferson City are junior Mary Wehmeyer and Madisyn Stone.
"Mary is kind of our go-to kid," Hoffmeyer said. "The opposite middle will be Madisyn Stone, who is relatively inexperienced, but we are expecting her to step up and fill that role."
The left-side hitters will be juniors Mary Vandelicht and Cara Caby.
"Mary will be one of our leading killers, she has a strong attack from the back row, from the front row and is a good, aggressive player all around the court," Hoffmeyer said. "Cara Caby is a leader, a strong kid. She plays defense just as good, if not better, than she attacks on the front, so that's why she's out there."
In the mix as the right-side hitter are Massie and seniors Savanna Guitard and Chelsey Klosterman. There's also a three-player mix at libero, where juniors Jamie Baumgartner, Megan Bleidistel and Madison Fink a fighting for the job.
"Those three would all love to have the title of libero, but they'll all be defensive specialists in some way, shape or form," Hoffmeyer said.