By Doug Flanagan

The Waterville metformin side effects 500mg volleyball team’s chemistry will be tested over the next week or two.

Last week, Shockers coach Jill Moomaw was forced to juggle her lineup when starting outside hitter Kathleen Schmitz suffered a concussion during a physical education class last week and didn’t play in the team’s loss against Bridgeport on Saturday.

Back-row defender Bailey Bromiley was moved up front to take Schmitz’s place, but Moomaw sensed that the sophomore was uncomfortable with her new defensive responsibilities, so the coach will move Bromiley to the libero position.

In addition, the Shockers will also gain the services of hitter Kassidy Simmons this week, so her addition will force more changes.

“So much (of success) is building an on-court dynamic,” Moomaw said. “They need to learn who’s got what and how they trust each other. It may take a while, but I hope it comes fast.”

Moomaw said Schmitz wasn’t at practice Monday, and the coach said she doesn’t have a solid idea of when Schmitz will be able to return to the court.

“I don’t believe it was severe,” Moomaw said. “It was a slight concussion, if anything. I know she managed to go to school, but had some headaches and dizziness. I haven’t heard (Monday) if she was able to get into the doctor, so I don’t know when she’s going to return.”

While Schmitz is out, Hanna Clements will take her spot on the left side, while Simmons will take over on the right side. When Schmitz returns, the team will finally be able to play with its full complement.

Through all of these changes, the Shockers have been able to adapt and move forward thanks to the fact that the team members seem to genuinely enjoy playing with each other. In fact, their team chemistry might be a little too good, in a way, according to Moomaw.

“If anything, they’re too nice (with each other),” she said. “Nobody wants to be greedy and rule the court. Alyssa (Moomaw), as a setter, tries to ask for a better pass or whatever to drive them to be a little more aggressive, but there’s nobody who has really stepped up to be the leader. Briana (Hinderer) is in the right position to do that, but she’s a really nice kid. She encourages people and she’s really positive, so there’s definitely a dynamic there, and everything is so positive and supportive, but nobody’s taking that leadership role on the court to maintain that aggressive attitude.”

Moomaw said the squad’s cohesion has been reinforced with a couple of team dinners and other off-the-court activities, and the players write inspirational quotes to each other in notebooks throughout the year to maintain positive attitudes.

“They’re all friends and like each other,” Moomaw said. “There’s no issues as far as that goes. (On the court), nobody’s really getting mad at each other. It’s just a real warm, fuzzy little group.”

Waterville (1-3) will take on league favorite Pateros today.

“I’m looking forward to that match,” Moomaw said. “It will make the girls play up. We haven’t played up for a while, and it’s been hard to see the progress because we’ve been stalling out. They will push us, that’s for sure.”

Waterville had several chances to beat Bridgeport last Saturday, but couldn’t finish sets when it needed to. Facing match point in the first set, the Fillies served the last four points to take a two-point victory, helping them take the 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13 win.

Alyssa Moomaw had five aces, three kills and 20 assists; Briana Hinderer had two aces and four kills; Diana Davila, fighting through a sore back, had five kills; Clements had three aces and three kills; Kamryn Shafer had two aces, six kills and three blocks; and Bromiley had two digs and three kills.

Waterville was at a disadvantage because it was down a player and had to move some players to different positions. However, the Shockers still suffered from some of the miscues that Moomaw has been talking about for several weeks — namely, serve receive, passing and closing sets out.

“We were kind of a broken wheel,” Moomaw said. “There were some positive things. At times we started to swing at the ball well and put the ball into play from the outside successfully, but we failed to close the gap when the score got tight. It’s the young mentality with some of the girls. They are trying really hard to overcome those anxieties, but right now the anxiety is winning out.

“Everything is a bit rough and unpolished. Our passes are still shaky, and we’re not getting the best hits and sets into play. It’s hard to affect any offense when you’re not making real smooth transitions.”