Below is an article that I wrote for my school newspaper two weeks ago.
Volleyball suffers rough start to season
By Justin Walters
Collegian Editor
Following the same script for the past decade, the women’s volleyball team would open up the season at their annual La Salle Invitational at Tom Gola Arena. The first matchup for the Explorers this year would be against St. Peters. The last time both teams faced off was in 2009, which ended in a 3-2 victory for Blue and Gold.
This is a different year though and the Peacocks were looking to avenge their early 2009 exit from the La Salle Invitational. The first set against St. Peters was tight in the beginning with both teams being deadlocked at 12 apiece. Senior Alexander Kennedy erased that tie to give the Explorers a 13-12 edge, which propelled the team to cruise to a 25-14 first set victory. Senior Jacquelyn Mitrovich, freshman Jennifer Whelan and junior Kelly Scanlon all contributed in the kill column during the 13-2 run to close out the first set.
The Explorers carried this momentum to the second and third (25-14, 25-23) set to sweep St. Peters in the first round of their invitational. Senior Kourtney Clark led the assist category for the match with 29 while sophomore Rachel Finkbeiner racked up a match-high 11 kills.
Starting off with a phenomenal morning sweep against the Peacocks, La Salle would take on Canisius for the afternoon matchup. The Explorers came back from a 21-12 deficit against the Golden Griffins in the first match, but the away team would take the first set with the Explorers showing early signs of fatigue. The result would be the same for the following sets (25-18, 25- 13) ending in a sweep for the Golden Griffins. Despite the loss, Clark dominated again with a game-high 25 assists while tying with junior Brenna Mazalewski for the team led in digs with eight.
As the first day of the invitational concluded, teams would later find out that the tournament would be ending early due to the weather forecast. With the Sunday games cancelled, the Explorers would play Providence for their last game of the tournament on Saturday morning.
In their match, both teams stayed close throughout trading points back and forth. With the score even at 23, the Explorers were the first to fall on a attack error ending in a 25-23 loss. The second set would imitate the first as the Friars stayed resilient till the end in a 25-20 win.
In efforts to come back, the Explorers answered back as they returned the favor to Providence with a 25-23 victory, but that would be their last lead. Ultimately, the Friars would triumph over the invitational hosts in a 3-1 victory.
With 27 kills, three aces and seven digs throughout the tournament, Finkbeiner shined her way to the All-Tournament team.
After the passing of Hurricane Irene, the Explorers continued their home-court stand against Townson on Tuesday evening. Despite the home-court advantage, the Explorers would add another loss to the column.
Townson came out strong from the first serve and never looked back as they sweep Blue and Gold (25-18, 25-19, 25-17).
In spite of their loss, Scanlon finished with a match-high 12 kills while Mazalewski led the dig column with 14.
Head coach Dave Stever has nothing but faith in his squad and he knows they’ll bounce back in no time.
“In addition to a lot of injuries, they are displaying great team chemistry…we’re just not producing in the win column.”
The Explorers will look to bounce back from their losing streak on Friday at 4 p.m. against Villanova at the Big 5 Invitational held the Palestra.
waltersj1@student.lasalle.edu
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