On a day when the women’s volleyball team played with a lot of enthusiasm, their effort seemed to be overshadowed.
In a strong showing, the Bobcats fell to St. Francis (PA) 3-1 in front of a crowd of 45 people. With the loss, the Bobcats dropped to 1-24, (0-3 NEC), while St. Francis (PA) improved to 9-18, (3-1 NEC).
The Bobcats found themselves having to come from behind during most of the match. Despite losing the first set 30-23, the team looked to bounce back in the second game. While trailing 4-2 in the second set, the Bobcats started playing more aggressive and capitalized off many of the Red Flash’s mistakes.
With the score at 26-21, the Red Flash started to crawl their way back into the game before the Bobcats were able to pull off the win 30-28. The Bobcats finished the set with a total of 11 kills and two errors. Bobcats Head Coach Robin Lamott Sparks felt their second game win was a confidence booster.
“It was big more than anything,” Sparks said. “I think they will feel good about it.”
Going into the third game, it appeared that Quinnipiac would carry the momentum over from the second game. However, they started out slow, allowing St. Francis to jump out to an early lead. The Bobcats weren’t able to keep the same intensity from the first two games. They dropped the third game 30-20.
Quinnipiac allowed St. Francis to control the tempo in the fourth game. Once again, the Red Flash were able to tame the Bobcats by outplaying them from start to finish. QU was unable to bounce back as they fell in the fourth game 30-16.
Junior Crista Valentino felt that the win in the second game prevented them from playing their style of volleyball throughout the rest of the match.
“In the second game, there was no pressure,” said Valentino. “When we got the win, we started thinking instead of playing.”
Freshmen Sara McCarthy felt that confidence played a role during the third and fourth games.
“After the second game, we had confidence,” said McCarthy. “After the third game, we started to get down on ourselves.”
Undeterred by the loss, Coach Sparks sees this team going in the right direction.
“We’ve worked hard in the last three weeks,” said Sparks. “We’re making smart choices and being faster. If we can continue to work on this, we can do well for the rest of the season”.
