The Cabrini women’s volleyball team suffered a heart -wrenching loss on Saturday, Nov. 8, at Neumann College in the Colonial States Athletic Conference championship.
This season not only marked the first time the women went to the conference final in program history but it was also a program- record 20- win season.
The third-seeded lady Cavaliers first met the Knights back on Oct. 8 and lost a lengthy five-game series.
“Our biggest win of the season came against DeSales University, a team that made it to the National College Athletic Association tournament this year,” Kate Conahan, junior exercise science major, said. “We should have beat Neumann, since they lost to DeSales. We just seem to have a mental block when it comes to playing them.”
As they managed to gain a victory against Philadelphia Biblical University on Nov. 6 and advance to the finals, the women looked ahead to a tough Neumann squad who aimed to defend their title.
As they made their way into the small and tightly packed gym, the lady Cavs expected a loud and unruly crowd to badger them throughout the entire match.
Neumann jumped out to a 2-0 lead after wins of 25-22 and 25-23 in the opening sets.
Cabrini bounced back to win the third set 25-23 and refused to give up.
Freshman Alexis Doss led the attack in game three, registering six kills on 10 attempts with zero errors.
However, no matter how hard Cabrini tried to push for a fifth set, Neumann closed out the match with a dramatic 25-23 victory in the fourth to win their second straight championship.
“The 3-1 set score doesn’t show it, but we really only lost by seven points,” Conahan said. “It sucked. I felt terrible for our seniors, I know they wanted to win this more than anything.”
Junior Lizzie Williams posted her seventh double-double of the season with an outstanding 40 assists and 10 digs in the loss.
Senior Lindsay Martin and junior Traci Beltz each tallied 10 kills.
On the defensive side, senior Danielle Finnigan had 15 digs, while senior Michelle Mola recorded 20, a team high.
Even as their hearts were broken, the Lady Cavs weren’t ready to end their season.
The team managed to be seeded fourth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region Tournament.
“I knew I wasn’t ready for this to end,” senior middle hitter Kaitlyn Fetterman said. “I want so badly for this team to win a title.”
