The volleyball team suffered three consecutive defeats this weekend in Amherst at the hands of NESCAC rival Middlebury College, Pomona-Pitzer and Eastern Connecticut. Despite winning a game against each of their first two opponents, the Cards were not able to maintain consistent play to win any of the five-game matches.
Senior captain Rebecca Mintz ’05 offered a reason for the 0-3 weekend.
“We were too emotionally invested over the weekend. We weren’t able to stay positive, which took us out of the match,” Mintz said. “Volleyball is so much about mentality, and we got caught up in our mental errors which ended up taking us out in the end and did not allow us to find any consistency. This week we have set personal and team goals for ourselves. We want to become more connected with all of our teammates on the floor and remain positive.”
One bright spot for the team was the play of defensive specialist Tory Molnar ’07, who earned a spot on the All-Tournament team for her outstanding play during the weekend.
“I played well over the weekend, but [playing well] is something I try to do all the time,” Molnar said. “The accomplishment recognized my hard work, but it is even more important because it motivates me to play hard and keep up the defense. It is nice to get recognized, but it is even more important to win. We still need to work hard to get our record up.”
Despite its recent struggles, the Cards have been regrouping this week on and off the court in preparation for the re-match against Amherst in front of a home crowd. This advantage could provide a critical edge to the team considering their last match was an epic two and a half hour battle that went down to the fifth and deciding game, resulting in a 3-2 loss for the Red and Black.
“We had an amazing team meeting earlier this week,” Molnar said. “We came out with a new urgency for winning. We have had great practices, which we will bring to the matches against the upcoming competition. It feels like a totally new team.”
The volleyball team is slated to take on Amherst on Friday at 8:00 p.m. on its home court at the Wesleyan Invitational. They will face Trinity and Smith College in a doubleheader on Saturday.
“We all have a clear goal [for our next game]- to beat Amherst. In order to win, we’re going to have to come out with more aggressiveness and get over our little errors,” said Caroline Rober ’08, who has seen increased playing time as the season has progressed. “We all want to win badly. Each of us have set little and big goals for ourselves this week, and at the end of the tournament,hopefully we will have met those goals and played well.”
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