The Quinnipiac Bobcats women’s volleyball team fell short to Army, 3-1, at Burt Kahn Court on Friday.
Army (8-3) took the first two sets of the match but the Bobcats (1-10) fought back and took the third. Army then came back in the fourth set to finish off the Bobcats.
“Those first two matches, to be honest, were pretty discombobulated,” junior Taylor Payne said. “We were playing scared I guess.”
Ten errors committed by the Bobcats proved costly in the first set as Army took advantage, winning the set 25-12.
Army sophomore Marguax Jarka took advantage with over five scores, including an ace.
“I was demanding a lot out of them in the first few sets,” Quinnipiac head coach Robin Sparks said. “I wasn’t too particularly pleased on what happened on the court.”
Quinnipiac and Army found themselves in a tight battle early in the second set. A Quinnipiac unforced error made it 10-6 Army in the middle of the second set. Freshman Tierra Allen tried to start a rally with a bullet of a strike, making it 10-7. Army played tough and went on a 6-0 after taking a 11-9 lead, making it 17-9 at one point. The Bobcats continued to commit unforced errors, costing them the set 25-17.
Down 0-2, the Bobcats tried their best to motivate each other in the locker room.
“Between the second and third set, not gonna lie, we were in the locker rooms saying, ‘LETS GO!’” Payne said.
Halfway into the third set, Quinnipiac took a 13-11 lead, but lost it to an unforced error and a soft touch from Army’s Francine Vasquez. The teams would exchange leads every other point and with the Bobcats down 23-22, Payne took charge and spiked it home, tying the game at 23.
The Bobcats finished with an ace and forced Army to commit an error and took the third set 25-23.
“I think they really solved this in the locker room,” Sparks said.
The Bobcats aimed to tie the game at two sets apiece and found themselves in another back and forth affair.
With the score tied at 20, the Black Knights scored four unanswered points to take control of the set. Despite two points by the Bobcats, Army won the set and match.
The Bobcats will travel to face rival Yale Saturday at 1 p.m. and host the University of New Hampshire at 7 p.m.
