The buzz surrounding the North Carolina A&T volleyball program this offseason focused on new head coach Toni Conway, a 2001 N.C. A&T graduate. While N.C. A&T director of athletics Wheeler Brown searched for the program’s new boss, interim head coach and current assistant coach Arlene Mitchell looked for something else.

“We need leaders,’’ said Mitchell. “Last year, we never had someone say follow my lead and I’m going to take us to victory. We never had that certain someone who wanted to take over a match or a set.”

The Aggies suffered through another season uncharacteristic of a program that once made 20-win seasons and top four finishes in the conference the rule and not the exception. Over the last two seasons the Aggies have won just 15 matches. Then the unthinkable happened. A N.C. A&T volleyball team failed to make the MEAC Tournament.

It was a tremendous shock for a program that had never been excluded from the conference tournament. It was also not indicative of a program that won 79 percent of its conference games from 1994-2006. In fact, the Aggies 2-6 record in the MEAC last season was the program’s first losing season in the conference in 18 years.

“Our biggest goal is getting back to the tournament,’’ said Mitchell, who starred for the Aggies from 2003-2006. “It is not acceptable for the program I love to be absent from the conference tournament.”

Mitchell became a team captain as a sophomore at N.C. A&T. Therefore, she knows it’s important that a leader or leaders emerge from the team. After only one season as an assistant, Mitchell took over the head coaching duties on an interim basis during the offseason. Absent a leader from the team, she quickly wanted to establish discipline within the program.

She drew back on her experiences as a player when discipline was the hallmark of some of the more successful teams in her era. Conway has come in and echoed Mitchell’s sentiment for strong discipline.

“We are in desperate need of someone to lead on and off the court,’’ said Mitchell. “We need someone to get after people when needed or encourage when the time calls. But most of all, we’re looking for someone who can lead by example.”

The new leader or leaders will have to come from the nucleus of the 2008 team. N.C. A&T returns nine players for the 2009 season. What makes Mitchell confident someone from this season’s team will step up to claim the leadership role is the number of seniors on the ’09 roster. Unlike last season when the Aggies only had two seniors, this year’s team has a fifth-year senior, two four-year seniors and three juniors, which includes a redshirt junior.

“This year the expectation is for someone to take charge,’’ said Mitchell. “If someone hit a ball out last year, then everyone’s head dropped. We needed that leader to come back on the next play and hit the 10-foot line to get us going again. There were stretches where we played well, but then we compounded an error with another error and then another error.

One error changed the whole course of the match immediately. We had that mental block we couldn’t quite get over.”

Mental and physical blocks will hopefully not be a problem this season. The Aggies lost the best blocker in the conference in 6-foot-3 Avignon Williams. Williams led the conference in blocks last season and was second in the conference in 2007. The Aggies lost another six-footer in Aundia Gray, who was second on the team in total blocks.

Williams and Gray accounted for 52 percent of the Aggies blocks last season. Without their presence, the Aggies will look to use speed to counter opponents’ offensive attack. Breanne Dotstry will be counted on heavily to fill the void as the Aggies top blocker. Dotstry, a 5-11 sophomore out of Macomb, Mich., was second on the team in blocks per game at 0.80.

“Bree is a really good blocker,’’ said Mitchell. “We just have to keep her focused. We’re really going to need her to step up and play a major role for us this year. She is going to have to grow up fast.”

Redshirt junior LaShawn White and freshman Andrea Evans will also play in the middle for the Aggies.

Offensively, the Aggies will turn to two senior outside hitters. Fifth-year senior Tiffany Mellette is a solid server, who ranked ninth in the MEAC in service aces. If she cuts down on her errors, she will be a solid scorer for the Aggies.

Junior Janae Mitchell came on strong last season to become the Aggies leader in kills after being a reserve the first two years of her career. Mitchell learned a new style of hitting before the start of the 2008 season, and Arlene Mitchell believes Mitchell’s attitude will take her far this season.

“Janae has that killer instinct in her that I love,’’ said Arlene Mitchell. “Whether she gets a kill or a tip, she stays energized.”

Redshirt freshman Kaneisha Winfield will provide some assistance on the outside. The person responsible for making sure the Aggies offense operates properly will be sophomore Jordan Gray. The Lenexa, Kansas native recorded 638 assists as a freshman.

“Jordan had to learn a lot of different things,’’ said Mitchell. “We put a lot on her as a freshman. I think the biggest thing for Jordan will be whether she has learned her hitters. If a setter doesn’t get to know her hitters and where they like the ball, it’s hard to be effective.”

Bridget McCaskill excellent passing and defensive skills helped her earn the libero position midway through last season. This season, she will be utilized as a hitter, leaving the door open for Stacey Malone to regain her status as one of the best liberos in the conference. In 2007, Malone had 535 digs, but last season she registered just 76.

“Stacey is working hard in practice,’’ said Conway. “She is competing like someone who has something to prove. She is very good at getting her body between the ball and the floor.”

The Aggies back row could be one of the strongest parts of the 2009 Aggies. Junior Amber Inman returns for year No. 3 where her steady improvement has impressed both Conway and Mitchell.

“Amber is a hustler,” said Mitchell. “The ball could be going out of the door, but she’s still going after it. She has been that way since she arrived.”

Conway and Mitchell agree the Aggies are going to need that kind of dedication in order to rebuild the Aggies volleyball program. The good news is that while the search for leadership and talent continue, the Aggies have on staff two people who knows what it takes to win in Aggieland.

Conway played on the only Aggies volleyball team to go undefeated in the MEAC when she and her teammates accomplished the feat in 1998. Meanwhile, Mitchell owns numerous school records.

“We’re going to get the job done,’’ said Conway. “From what I’ve seen so far, I think we can surprise a few people, even ourselves. I know we lost our top blockers, but we have some experienced hitters and defensive players back. I think we are on our way to changing the standard.”