“The culture they have in there is as good as any team I’ve had. They’re working really hard. You just have to gain experience, and that is the toughest thing to teach,” said head coach Rob Machan. “The opponents are brand new, the situations are brand new, so we’re just getting comfortable. But you can see when we put it together, we’re pretty good.”
The women’s volleyball team recently came off of a four game winning streak, spanning from Oct. 11 to Oct. 24. Starting with a 3-1 win in four sets at home against Marist on Oct. 11, they defeated Manhattan University in three sets at home on Oct. 17, Iona University in four sets at home on Oct. 18, and took down Merrimack College on the road on Oct. 24.
Contributed by Emma Pinault ‘28
Even with a four game win streak, an important aspect of volleyball, as with all sports, is to not let it get to your head and to respect every opponent that you play.
“One of the things we work on really hard is we never, never look at the opponent as who we’re trying to train against. It’s always our own performance. It shouldn’t make a difference who we play, it’s your game that matters,” said Machan.
Directly after the four game success streak, the women lost to two of the top teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC): Quinnipiac University and Fairfield University. During both games, most sets came down to close finishes. The execution of finishing teams off is what has been a struggle for the Pioneers.
“The messaging and gameplan is consistent, the hard part is implementing it consistently,” said Machan. “We don’t want to change what we’re doing at the end of games,”
One of the team’s young players, freshman Ryleigh Short, who leads the team in nearly every offensive statistic except for assists and serves, has cemented herself as a budding star for the team.
“She is just one of those multiskilled players. There’s nothing she can’t do on the floor. She’s just getting better and better. She asks great questions, she’s super smart, and she wants to be great,” said Machan.
With a young lineup, and only three seniors that will be graduating, they will have the entirety of the offseason to continue to mesh together as a team, increasing their levels of camaraderie and chemistry.
With four games remaining on their schedule and a standing record of 8-18 overall and 5-9 in conference, these next matches to end the season could affect how the next season starts.
“If we win the next four games, it will probably help us in how we feel about ourselves and our confidence, and probably higher expectations. But if we were to lose, I think we would just use that as fuel into next season,” said Short.
“I think it’s always important to end the season well, and build the momentum going to the next season, but I think it is also really important in the spring to work hard, and that’s what really matters,” said junior Lauren Hubert.
The team hosts Canisius on Nov. 7 and Niagara on Nov. 8 in their final home stand of the season.
Athletic Communications contributed to this article.
