James Gregg / Arizona Daily Star

Other articles by Jamie M. Blanchard:

Salpointe takes 3 straight versus Mountain View Dedication of a Warrior UA mistakes help Ducks win their 2nd in Pac-10 Nighthawks' Chapman finds homer stroke against Rincon Relay champs on roll with lucky baton, record, title Creighton turns back Cats in 2nd game Badgers' Okonkwo hoping to end her stint on sidelines after injury Cats top Virginia Tech in 12 innings Young Wildcats find focus, win first 2 at home Foothills, with new coach, wants 3rd title in a row

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The start of the season used to be rough for the Ironwood Ridge girls volleyball team.

Many players returned to the court after what coach Bill Lang jokingly called a summer of "sitting on the couch watching 'High School Musical.'"

The under-conditioned Nighthawks were sluggish because of players missing preseason practices because of shattered shoulders and sore backs, to name just two of the maladies.

But now the preseason injuries are in the past for the Nighthawks. After spending the summer training once a week at Velocity Sports Performance, instead of the Ironwood Ridge gym, not one varsity player has missed a practice in four weeks, and Lang said he believes their volleyball is better because of the intense off-season regimen.

Senior middle blocker Kelsey Groff, who sat out most of last season with a broken hand and a chipped elbow, saw dramatic improvement in her physical abilities.

Groff, also a standout athlete in basketball and softball, described some of the workouts the team endured this summer.

• The process: The team worked out with free weights and did military presses, doing various sets of each. Exercises with medicine balls were also key. The players would take a medicine ball in one hand and lift it over their heads, then aggressively hurl it downward — like chopping wood with an ax — and bounce it to a teammate. "We would throw them straight down, so it was like hitting (a volleyball), like an arm swing."

• The result: "We have such powerhouse hitters this year," she said. "The workouts made a huge difference. We know our balls are going to go straight down."

• The process: The Nighthawks did crunches while holding a medicine ball to strengthen their abdominal muscles. "We also did platform bridges, where you're on your elbows and your toes on the floor. We would hold them for as long as we could," Groff said.

• The result: "When you go up to attack, you feel so much strength in your core on the follow through," she said. "When I go up to block, I definitely feel a lot stronger."

• The process: Split squats, sumo squats, regular squats and every other squat imaginable. "We did so many squats and lunges over the summer, the number is probably too large to count," Groff said.

• The result: "Defensively, everyone is able to stay down and low, which makes us a lot faster to balls," she said.

• The process: The team incorporated dorsiflexion movements that stretch the calves, and the importance was drilled home. " 'Dorsiflex' is all we heard all summer. We might even make a shirt that says, 'Dorsiflex equals state championship.' " Said Velocity trainer Joshua Hyde: "Our bodies are spring loaded in the ankle with dorsiflexion to propel us upward and forward more explosively."

• The result: Groff improved her vertical leap from 19 1/2 inches to 21 inches. "Being able to jump higher gives me more strength and power for blocking, and also for hitting."

• The process: Doing push-ups and throwing the medicine ball were vital elements of the team's shoulder conditioning. "We did as many push-ups as (possible) in 30 seconds," said Groff, who usually averages about 20. "For the medicine ball, we'd do sets of 10. We would throw it against the wall, then we'd go sideways. Then we would throw it to each other front-to-front."

• The result: "With blocking, having strong shoulders is a big part of being able to push the ball right back over into their court. It's the same for hitting," she said. "It helps us put it straight down."