The Lady Cavaliers volleyball team beat CSACopponent Rosemont College by a score of 3-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 13. The players came out for the game ready to win and they did exactly that. The team’s energy and focus during warm-ups was a sign of the quick pace to come in the game.
“We stayed focused all the way through,” sophomore Sophia Sokolovich said.
At the beginning of the game, the Cavaliers started out strong with great energy and the cohesiveness of the team was apparent. The Lady Cavaliers dominated the beginning points of the game, breaking out to an early10-1 lead.
“The team worked together to stay positive and motivated, especially because [Rosemont] was not as fast-paced as others,” senior Courtney Abel said.
The first game went by with the blink of an eye as the Cavaliers spiked continuous points to rack up the first set win 25-6.
After taking a quick time-out and water break, the Lady Cavaliers set out to make quick work of the second set. The Cavaliers looked strong with each passing point, powering their way to a 25-12 set win.
Even though the score was a bit closer in this set, the Cavaliers stayed positive through their mistakes.
“The girls worked and played hard together,” junior opposite-side hitter Meg Ryan said. “This group of girls is a strong team.”
Ryan added a number of hard spikes and finished with 10 kills. Sokolovich led the team with 16 digs while Abel led the team with 18 assists.
As noted by the players, the love of the game is what brings this team so close together and helps them win match after match. In the third set the score was tied at one point. The Cavaliers held on and finished with a 25-15 victory in the final set.
“It was hard for the girls to stay focused but they kept their intensity up,” head coach Eric Schaefer said. “When Rosemont pushed, they pushed back.”
TheLebanon Valley College Dutchmen Quad, which took place on Sept. 16 and 17, acted as a challenge for the Lady Cavs. They ended with one victory and two losses.
After falling to Lebanon Valley College and Mary Washington University, the Cavaliers ended the tournament on the right foot with a 3-0 victory over the City College of New York.
Prior to the tournament, Sokolovich said to do well, the team needs to “stay focused in practices by working on passing well and connecting their sets with the hitters.”
With the majority of the Cavaliers games against CSAC opponents, the tournament was a way for the team to prepare for the season’s second half.
“The teams they are playing in the tournament will be harder competition, so to prepare we did a lot of hard and individual practices,” Schaefer said.
Three of the Cavs last four games in September are against CSAC opponents. The team plays at home against Philadelphia Biblical University on Saturday, Sept. 24 and Moravian College on Tuesday, Sept.27.
