Honestly, when I set foot inside Reynolds Coliseum, I wasn’t expecting any out of the ordinary.

You think Duke football is bad? Wolfpack volleyball is twice the oxymoron, believe me.

I covered some 10 games last year and almost beat the poor team over the head with the reoccurring what-went-wrong-tonight question.

The only thing more dull and pathetic than former coach Mary Byrne was watching her team go through the motions, accepting their loss before the deciding game reached its completion.

Ah, but there’s a change in the coaching position, as well as one in the air. Even in warm-ups, I can tell almost everything about the N.C. State volleyball atmosphere is far different than last year.

“Game time! Game time! Woot-woot! Woot-woot!”

At the sound of this I jump out of my seat — just what is that?

Relieved to find the war cry is not that of a cannibal mob, I sit back down.

It’s only the volleyball team’s pregame chant – then it hits me just how surprised I shouldn’t be. I know other sports teams get hyped before games, but never volleyball — at least until now.

But it gets even crazier — coach Charita Stubbs called a timeout. I ask around, trying to find out the last time State called a timeout in a game.

I come up short in my quest for that piece of information, but I’m almost certain that Clinton was president when it happened.

Coach Stubbs’ husband lets a rip on his patent chat, “We’re going to win! You’re going to lose!”

A winning attitude — I’m at a loss for words. With two sentences Mr. Stubbs said more aloud than Mary Byrne ever did.

OK, now Stubbs herself has really gone to far. Why, she’s yelling at her players, correcting them and such, and worst of all she’s making substitutions when they screw up repeatedly.

“This is simply unheard of,” I thought to myself.

In this year’s road game against North Carolina, a ref blew a call. The ball was clearly deflected, and therefore it should be State’s point.

But instead of hearing a shower of boos and “Ref you suck” from the 100 or so who made the trip from Raleigh, he got a heckling Charita Stubbs right in his ear.

I’m not used to watching volleyball where the home team’s coach fights back for her squad.

What happened to standing despondently in the corner with your arms folded?

Why it’s… it’s coaching!

The atmosphere surrounding the court has changed a great deal as well. To be sure, there’s frustration on the faces of few. But frustration isn’t pouting, and it’s a pleasant change.

The attitude is contagious, spreading through the stands.

One new addition to the setting is the band, playing the fight song between breaks.

I see we even threw in cheerleaders to get the crowd moving again in the Coliseum’s humid, stagnant air.

The wave starts, and the largest crowd I’ve seen in over a year rejoices at every point the players can amass in their losing effort.

I walked out of Reynolds last night feeling as though I had seen something more than a 3-0 defeat. An infusion of attitude transcending from the coach to the players and into the stands has jump started a transformation in the way the volleyball team plays.

There’s nothing tangible about moral victories, but these early days of the new tenure are seeds just starting to take root.

About the only similarity I see out there is our school colors – the players want to play, the coach coaches and the fans don’t give up on the team.