Elyse Winter Ready to Compete for a State Title

<p>In her first season with the Xavier Saints, [player_tooltip player_id="17226" first="Elyse" last="Winter"] didn’t wait long to make her mark. The junior OH/MB helped lead Xavier to the State tournament with 298 kills, 31 aces, 231 digs, and 77 blocks. Her marks were good enough for 2^nd Team All-State Honors. Xavier returns three All-State players this fall in Winter, 1^st teamer [player_tooltip player_id="17216" first="Eve" last="Magill"] and honorable mention Jazmine Yamilkoski. </p> <p>We caught up with Winter to see how she’s staying motivated with club season currently stalled. </p> <p></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>What are you most looking forward to this next high school season? </p> <p>"I am really looking forward to just being able to practice everyday with my teammates under our great coaches. My teammates are my best friends and I love being able to see them and work hard with them every day, it gets me really excited for the next high school season." </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>What is the biggest life lesson volleyball has taught you?</p> <p>"One of the biggest things that I’ve learned from volleyball is that things don’t always come easy and a lot of things are out of our control. If you want something there is going to be obstacles that come with it and you just have to work hard. I’ve also learned that with volleyball, you can’t control injuries or if someone gets hurt and you also can’t control when things happen to your season because of a virus but it teaches you to adapt and stick with it if you love it."  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Who is the best player you’ve faced across the net and why? </p> <p>"I think the best player I have faced across the net is [player_tooltip player_id="40467" first="Megan" last="Renner"]. I played against her my freshman and sophomore year of high school volleyball and she was just someone you always had to watch out for. Whether that was trying to close the block on her fast tempo sets or getting lined up to block her so she wouldn’t nail the backrow she was just an overall great player that I loved getting to play against."</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The number 1 advice you would give to an incoming freshman volleyball player this fall? </p> <p>"My piece of advice to incoming freshman would be don’t be afraid to be loud and hardworking on the court. Especially going into open gyms in the summer,  it can be nerve racking at first to play with upperclassmen, but its important to show your best effort and energy while just enjoying the game because your time will go by fast."</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Best piece of volleyball advice given to you by a coach? </p> <p>"The best piece of advice I’ve received has been a coach telling me to be patient. Be patient in terms of the development of skills I would be working on and in terms of the recruiting process. That advice really helped me to take a step back and realize the process in general takes time and that good things will eventually come from your hard work."</p>