By Samantha Burmeister
November 3, 2009
As has been the case most of their season, the Elmhurst College women’s volleyball team remains right at .500 with a record of 16-16 to close out the 2009 season. They have not been able to stay over the .500 mark the entire season.
Despite their struggles to hang in the thick of their conference race, the team has captured home advantage in the CCIW Tournament on Nov. 3 against Wheaton College.
Back on Oct. 20, the team snatched a big conference win against Augustana College on the road, 3-0 by total scores of 25-19, 26-24, and 25-18. The win maintained Elmhurst’s position of fourth place in the CCIW rankings.
The team then traveled Texas to compete at the Trinity University Invite in San Antonio. The ‘Jays came away from the tournament posting a 2-1 record.
“We accomplished a lot in Texas,” said senior Lisa Burger. “We came together as a team and made each other promises as to what we would accomplish individually on the court, and there was a definite difference all weekend as to the way we were playing and the moral on and off the court.”
The opening day of the tournament the Bluejays defeated the University of Texas at Tyler, 3-1. Sophomore Lindy Melville finished with 20 assists.
“The team promised each other to do better things on the court and keep their focus,” said head coach Julie Hall. “I don’t know what each individual may have said since it was only amongst each other, but after the first day, it was a new intensity and focus.”
The next day the Jays swept Texas Lutheran University taking all three games in their opening match. Senior Katie Buechel ended the game with 16 digs.
“We just made a lot of mistakes in the fifth game early and when you dig yourself a hole in the final game, it’s really tough to come out of it,” says Hall.
The following match against host Trinity University proved to be the most challenging for Elmhurst. They lost 3-2.
“We could have beaten Trinity,” Burger said. “They were a solid team and we waited way too long to start playing our game, which is something we need to work on. We need to come out and start playing from the beginning of the match.”
The team concluded its regular season play against a tough University of Wisconsin- Whitewater team on Oct. 28, dropping the match 1-3.
Even though the team could not end their regular season with an overall winning record, the loss did not hurt in the conference rankings.
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater continues to be a nemesis for the team throughout the season, always proving to me a tough team to face with past success.
“We still make bad decisions and mistakes at the most critical times that have plagued us all season,” Hall said. “The question will be, we are a much better squad and have learned a lot and are playing and peaking at the right time, but will we sustain and truly believe in ourselves? We’ll see this week.”
The team will now begin their post season play in the CCIW Tournament, striving to finally get past the five hundred mark.
“The good thing that came from the Texas tournament is the team’s ability to trust each other and accept new changes,” says freshman Antoney Veasy Smith. “We just need to keep practicing hard. It is our last week so it is all or nothing.”