Sophomore libero Courtney Abel earned all-tournament team honors this past weekend at the Franklin & Marshall College volleyball tournament. In their victory against Stevenson University, Abel led the defense and collected a team high of 12 digs for the match, and overall she collected 32 digs for the weekend.
“I was really surprised that I made the all-tournament team,” Abel said. “But at the same time I was really excited to be given such an honor.”
In the three games that the lady Cavs competed in at the tournament, they beat Stevenson University 3-0 and lost to both Franklin & Marshall and Lebanon Valley 3-0. Abel led the defense during the tournament while junior middle hitter Stephanie Recklau was a leading contributor in the front line.
“We played two really good teams and hung with them,” Recklau said. “This weekend we had some moments where we played the best volleyball of our season.”
Recklau captured a team best of 11 kills in just 19 attempts against Lebanon Valley, while senior setter Lizzie Williams claimed her fourth double-double of the season. Williams achieved her double-double with 21 assists and 10 digs.
“This weekend we really stepped up to face some tough competition. Even when we were down we played together and didn’t bail on each other. We kept fighting and working together,” Williams said.
In addition to Recklau and Williams’ front line contributions, sophomores Alexis Doss and Beth Gillespie and freshman Megan Ryan also helped out in the front line. In the game against Franklin & Marshall, Gillespie led the front line with seven kills while Recklau, Doss and Ryan all chipped in with five kills each.
“We all played our hardest and that’s exactly what we needed to do,” Recklau said. “It was great to see some serious competition outside of our league and we hope that this helps us for the rest of the season and into playoffs.”
“We [the team] had our highs and our lows this weekend,” Abel said. “This tournament really pushed us to show we can play as a team even when we’re down by a lot. We fought back hard and all of the players stepped up this weekend and played their best.”
The lady Cavs will resume their Colonial States Athletic Conference competition against the Gwynedd-Mercy Griffins on Wednesday, Oct. 7 in the Nerney Field House of Cabrini College.