By Dillon Flanigan
Sports Editor
Outside hitter Raegen Emery, a graduate, goes for the kill.
“Caldwell really went on a run, and we were struggling really hard to get out of our rotations. It was good to be able to make some of those substitution changes and have people come in off the bench and be able to step up to pull us ahead.” – Head Coach Lisa Barbaro
After a tough loss to Dominican University on the road several days earlier, in the last morning game of the season on Saturday, Sep. 28, the volleyball team overpowered the Caldwell University Cougars in three sets 25-21, 25-16 and 25-16.
“They had a lot of off-speed shots. We had a little bit of a struggle with that, causing timing issues with the block in the beginning, but then we were able to adjust with it as the match went on,” Head Coach Lisa Barbaro said. “We started to get on a roll, on serves, hitting locations and zones. We got kind of stronger as the match went on.”
The first set started a balancing act between both teams, as each managed to score after each other. The Owls fell behind quickly 2-0 but tied on a bad set by Cougars’ Jordan Mack.
For a moment, the Cougars scored four straight points to tie and take a 9-7 lead over the Owls. The first two points that tied the score at 7-7 were on kills by Cougars’ Wyette Schubert-Brown. The university took a 9-7 lead on the next two points were from back-to-back attack errors on outside hitters Isabel Alvarez, a freshman, and Raegen Emery, a graduate.
Later in the set, several more attack errors by Mack assisted the Owls in securing the first set.
“We are so, so young and bringing it together. There’s no ‘give this person the ball,’” Barbaro said. “We lack, obviously, that experience. So, we’re just growing together, and we’re just going to keep trying to get better every week.”
The momentum of the young and inexperienced did not fade, as they quickly went up 4-0 in the second set.
After the Owls were up 6-2, each team had their streaks, starting with Caldwell scoring 11 of the next 12 points.
It was filled with one bad set, one ace, one attack error and eight kills for the Cougars. The Owls’ only point was on a service error from Mack.
After Caldwell had their run, it was the Owls’ turn to give them a taste of their own medicine, hammering off eight straight points to take a 15-13 lead. They would go on another run of 10-3 to win the second set.
The late run was highlighted by eight attack errors on the Cougars. Outside hitter Julia Jaworowski, a freshman, documented a kill as Emery, middle blocker Sarah Stark and Outside Hitter Victoria Pascual, sophomores, each recorded two.
“I think we did great. We had great communication. We just did our job of putting the ball away,” Pascual said. “We really wanted this win; we were on a losing streak. We really needed it.”
Needing one more set to win, the Cougars jumped up early in the third 2-0. The deficit was not for long as the Owls scored seven straight points. The Cougars got into reaching distance 9-8 but would ultimately fall in the set of three straight points on a kill by Emery, a service ace and a kill by right side hitter Sydney Bennett, a junior.
Jaworowski and Bennett each had four kills. As Pascual totaled six with Emery having the most with 12.
“It’s looking better every day. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it’s going in the right direction,” Emery said. “We did a lot of film study today before- we were able to execute it and we served tough that was our main thing, and it got us a win and three.”
The Owls are 2-11 on the season after the win against Caldwell. Eight of the matches this season have been on the road. Including visits to upstate New York, Delaware and Florida. This is a young team that is actively building and growing together after every competition.
“It’s a great group. They’re working hard, learning and developing every day in practice and really coming together,” Barbaro said.
The roster of 18 is comprised of 10 new freshmen. It is a young team that has a lot of potential. There will be growing pains along the way, but it is a step in the right direction.
VOL. 64-ISSUE 4
