By: Gina-Maria Garcia
After losing the first two matches of this year’s conference play against Hofstra University and the University of Delaware, the women’s volleyball team bounced back with a win against Towson University at Northeastern’s Solomon Court this past weekend.
The Huskies battled out the Towson Tigers Oct. 2 for their first conference play victory, sweeping the Tigers in the first three sets, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-20, respectively. The win was a huge comeback for the team after suffering a tough 3-0 loss Sept. 30 against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.
The first match started off neck-and-neck until the Tigers pushed for a 7-4 lead. Sophomore defensive specialist and libero Bri Hollis tied the score at 8-8 with her consistent serving and one service ace. With sophomore outside hitter Janelle Tucker slamming three kills at the net, the team was able to get a 7-2 run to take the lead at 15-10, and at 20-16, another kill by Tucker forced Towson to call a time out. The Huskies closed the match at 25-23.
In the second set, with two kills by sophomore outside hitter Nichole Kurz and an error by the Tigers, the Huskies were able to push the score from 9-9 to 12-9. The Huskies forced the Tigers to call yet another time out at 17-10 following a 4-1 run including kills by senior middle hitter Lauryn Ciszek and Tucker.
The Tigers were able to get a five point run at 20-17, but the Huskies finished the match at 25-22 after regrouping themselves during a timeout called by the Huskies.
The third set started out as a back-and-forth battle, just like the two previous sets, having the score tied in 13 different occasions. After being tied at 18-18, the team was able to gain an advantage at 22-18 when Tucker put down two kills and the Tigers committed two errors. A kill from Ciszek pushed Northeastern to a greater lead and the match was finished with a kill by Kurz, making the final score 25-20.
“This is such a huge win, especially after our loss to Delaware,” Sophomore setter Ina Kamenova said. “Compared to Friday night we were very composed, and today, we were confident and really brought it.”
The Huskies had previously played the Blue Hens in last year’s CAA Championship match and were defeated. The team faced another loss to Delaware in conference play Friday night in front of a packed gymnasium, losing the match in three sets, 25-21, 25-19 and 25-17, respectively.
“They played half as good as usual,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “We had a number of issues tonight.”
Performing under stress has become a huge issue for the girls in the past two months, said Nichols. Kamenova said one of the main factors for the loss was because of the team’s lack of performance under pressure, which forced the team to have an excess of unforced errors.
“We need to find some big doses of courage,” Nichols said. “We need to find a way to feel comfortable under pressure.”
Hollis said the difference between Friday’s game and the championship game against the Blue Hens was that this year, the team is fresher and younger compared to last year. She said the excitement was there, but the composure was not.
“All we need to do is minimize our errors and we’ll be fine,” Hollis said. “We were all trying really hard. It wasn’t the lack of effort, we just weren’t putting the ball down in the right spot.”
After the weekend, the women’s volleyball team needs to win seven out of 11 matches to make it into the post-season.
