LOUNDONVILLE, N.Y. — Three hundred and seventy days ago, Quinnipiac volleyball fell at the hands of Fairfield in heartbreaking fashion as the Stags ripped the title of MAAC Champions from the Bobcats’ claws.
Today, they experienced that heartbreak yet again, watching with tear-filled eyes as the Stags raised the conference championship trophy, beating the Bobcats 3-1 on sets — once again.
It felt like deja-vu.
And what a painful loss it was.
While Quinnipiac kept up with Fairfield in terms of kills (57 to 58) and digs (60 to 61), the Bobcats let up 22 attack, six service, one block and six reception errors — while Fairfield only totaled 15 errors across the board.
“We didn’t play anywhere close to one of our good matches, let alone the best match,” head coach Kyle Robinson said. “I don’t think it would’ve taken our best match to beat these guys but we needed to play our type of volleyball, which we didn’t do today. We missed a ton of serves and we passed awfully.”
Quinnipiac entered the game with a huge boost of confidence after its win yesterday against Rider in the semis, but an early run from Fairfield in the first set seemed to shake that and the Bobcats couldn’t keep up.
MAAC Player of the Year graduate student opposite Elena Giacomini still led the game with 24 kills, followed by junior outside hitter Yagmur Gunes with 14.
Sophomore outside hitter Leilani-kai Giusta boasted the worst numbers on the team with her .056 hitting percentage, bested even by junior setter Damla Gunes and her two successful setter dumps.
For a brief moment there, it seemed like the game could turn around. An ace from freshman libero Carolan Negron Diaz opened up the third set, giving Quinnipiac the lead it needed to avoid a sweep — which could’ve been thanks to the several players that didn’t see a lot of playing time this season making an appearance on the court.
Junior middle blocker Milena Silva, for example, seemed to be what the team needed to find their second breath, recording four kills and two block assists.
Robinson also put in sophomore opposite Cynthia Skenderi and junior middle blocker Tuana Turhan for a bit, as well as switching in seniors setter Chloe Ka’ahanui and opposite Alexandra Tennon for the last few points, just to “find something that’s going to work because what we had did not work.”
“(We needed to) find spark, someone to step up and bring something more than what we were bringing at the time,” Robinson said. “I had a lot of faith in (Silva), she’s got a big arm. (Turhan), she might be lacking technically but she has a lot of heart. And at the end, it was to give (Tennon) and (Ka’ahanui) time on the court together again for the last time.”
After the game, Giacomini and Yagmur Gunes were both honored into the MAAC All-Championship Team, in very familiar fashion to junior outside hitter Ginevra Giovagnoni and former opposite Aryanah Diaz last year.
Despite the loss, Robinson is nothing if not proud of his team.
“They’re amazing, I love them,” Robinson said. “When you lose (Giovagnoni) early, a key player, it’s really tough. To see a lot of people step up, to see (Giusta) and (Yagmur Gunes) carry us the whole season on the left side was a defining moment. Great volleyball players, great women.”
The Bobcats had a good season, going 15-3 in the conference and fighting tooth and nail despite many injuries and obstacles. And yet, it just wasn’t enough.
“To get here, it’s not good enough, we gotta get here and finish the job,” Robinson said. “I’m not sure we’ve spent most of this season focused enough on volleyball. You wanna beat good teams, you gotta be laser-focused, that means, putting everything else aside and focus on being a really good volleyball player. Hopefully they take the pain and the lessons learned here and be better for next year.”
And with that, the 2024 season comes to an end.
