And while she enjoyed the milestone, Reister said it was more of a confirmation.
“I expected it,” Reister said. “We walked in there, we showed up, and I just thought, ‘Oh yeah, we got this.’ It was a cool moment, but it wasn’t something that stunned me. I really believed we could leave champions.”
The Big Blue didn’t finish on top that day — they fell to host Madeira — but the coach saw buy-in from a group eager to rewrite the culture of Hamilton volleyball.
Reister wasted little time putting her stamp on the program. She introduced a defensive scheme most of the girls had never played. Reister said Hamilton ran the same system years prior and challenged them to try something different.
She implemented the “Rover Defense,” a strategy she learned during her own club playing days. And at first, the girls weren’t sure.
“You should have seen the eye rolls,” Reister said with a laugh. “I told them, ‘Don’t knock it until you try it.’”
It didn’t take long to win them over. At a recent practice, senior libero Madison Bladen pulled her aside and delivered the kind of feedback every coach hopes to hear.
“She looked me in the eye and said, ‘I love this defense. I feel like we’re just eating everything up on the court,’” Reister said. “That told me everything. They trust me, and I trust them. That’s the foundation we needed.”
Hamilton’s early-season progress was tested against a strong Ross team on Tuesday. Big Blue surged to a 7-3 lead in the opening set — riding an electric start and the kind of energy Reister believes can carry them through matches.
But Ross steadied itself, read Hamilton’s attacks and turned the match around quickly. The Rams swept the Big Blue 3-0. Reister said the difference wasn’t physical — it was mental.
“Ross was reading everything we did,” Reister said. “We weren’t playing with intention. We were swinging just to swing, not looking for holes, not paying attention to the block. We made too many mental mistakes, and our energy dropped. That’s what cost us.”
Still, she refused to view the night as a step back. Instead, she called it a measuring stick.
“I don’t see a team that lost,” Reister said. “I see a team that knows where it failed and how to fix it.”
Changing the culture at Hamilton is as much about mindset as it is about wins and losses. For too long, Reister said, the program carried a reputation of being satisfied with competing hard, even in defeat. Her players want more.
“They don’t want to just be happy to be here,” Reister said. “They want to win, and they deserve to win. I’ve been saying it since I took the job. And after seeing what these girls can do, I believe it even more.
“This team wants to change the culture. And they’re ready to fight for it.”
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