By Dillon Flanigan
Sports Editor
photo | lily rand
Outside hitter Raegen Emery, a graduate, goes for the dig.
On Oct. 8, the volleyball team fell 3-0 to their NE10 and Elm City rivals, the University of New Haven Chargers.
“We definitely had moments where we were executing our game plan,” Head Coach Lisa Barbaro said. “Then sometimes, we get those moments where that youngness and that inexperience just kind of shows up, and it’s tough.”
This season, the Owls have struggled with their ability to score and attack, but they played a balanced game offensively. Against the Chargers, they had 31 attacks with four errors. Being a young team, Barbaro believes they hit a positive note in the season with encouraging performances from multiple hitters.
Outside hitters Victoria Pascual, a sophomore, and Raegan Emery, a graduate, who had seven kills on 23 attempts and 12 kills on 27 attempts respectively.
“It was a tough loss, definitely,” Emery said. “We know we’re right there. I mean, we had the lead at least in that second set. We got a lot of work to do. We know what our weaknesses are. We’ve just got to keep pounding the stone, grinding for it.”
The first set was a back-and-forth match, as the Chargers ultimately pulled away, but they built a significant lead in the second.
The largest point differential was set by the Owls by taking a 13-6 lead on a service ace. However, the Chargers would score nine of the next 10 points without looking back.
“I really thought this was a really good, strong offensive performance against a very good blocking and defensive team,” Barbaro said.
Though the offense was on point, the defense was scuffling, as the Chargers were not contained. The lack of communication hurt the Owls.
“Somebody’s got to step in and take charge and take the ball,” Barbaro said. “It’s not any one person.”
It is rare for everything to be perfect for any team. Even if your team is developing, it is instrumental to capitalize on your opponent’s errors.
“That’s extremely important. It’s really easy for opposing teams to win games when we’re constantly making mistakes, making errors,” Emery said. “So, it’s really, really important that we do capitalize on any opportunity that we get, and we just didn’t do a great job of that today.”
Barbaro elaborated that they need to come out and take a point and not to wait for their opponent to have a moment of weakness. Being aggressive is key, taking advantage
The youth of the team has bled this game where they have not come together, as mentioned but there is confidence and faith that it will click as they get deeper into NE10 player the holes will be less and less.
“It’s extremely frustrating. And the other team, they did a great job,” Emery said. “Their defense was picking us up, blocking us, everything. So, you can do a lot of things right, the other team can just do it better.”
Even though suffering their first loss in conference is not great; it has left encouraging signs for the youth-filled team, taking things one step at a time.
