The unattested free-throw, the 5-on-4 power-play and the redeeming mulligan are all huge advantages in the sports realm. But perhaps none are as highly coveted as the home-field advantage. This past Saturday, after honoring co-captain Melissa Cole for senior day, Hopkins volleyball delivered victories over Gettysburg, Carnegie Mellon and Mary Washington.
All three victories came by way of a sweep, and the Lady Jays clinched the top seed in the Centennial Conference, a first round bye, and ultimately, a home-field advantage in the conference playoffs.
These are additional marks on an already stellar season from the Blue Jays. With a 23-4 record, Hopkins has won 13 straight games and posted a perfect 10-0 record against conference opponents for the first time in program history. The dominant victories this past weekend further proved that the Blue Jays are ready for the upcoming playoffs.
Freshman hitter and libero Anne Cohen, a native of Los Angeles, CA, thinks their team chemistry is climbing at the right time.
"The team's morale is very high right now," Cohen said. "After coming off a very successful weekend, earning the top seed in the conference and securing victories over three competitive teams, we're ready for the playoffs."
Hopkins opened up their busy Saturday against conference foe Gettysburg. Heading into the match, the Blue Jays needed to win just one set to clinch the top seed. Hopkins did just that, winning 25-10, and then added more. Keeping their foot on the pedal, JHU cruised to two more consecutive set wins, 25-22 and 25-16.
The Bullets were not alone in their fall to the Blue Jays, as this was Hopkins' seventh consecutive conference sweep. Hard-hitting freshman outside-hitter Meagan Donohoe, a two-time Centennial Conference play of the week honoree, played a huge role in the win over Gettysburg. Donohoe finished with 11 kills in the match. Cole, the team's only senior, also came up big, finishing with six kills.
Originally scheduled for a double-header, the weather this past weekend changed the plan to a triple-header.
The snow-pocalypse required the Blue Jays to take on Mid-Atlantic opponent Carnegie Mellon in addition to the regularly scheduled Bullets and Mary Washington.
The Blue Jays had no problem with the additional match, as Hopkins got better as the day went on. Against CMU, they won their first set, 25-20, which proved to be the tightest affair of the contest. JHU then went on to win 25-11 and 25-15 in the next two sets.
The team rounded out a long, yet short and sweet, Saturday against Mary Washington.
The Blue Jays stuck to their game plan and swept yet another challenger. Hopkins jumped to an early 1-0 lead by a score of 25-19 and did not look back. The next two sets went just as smoothly with 25-18 and 25-19 victories.
Donohoe finished with 28 kills, while Cole finished with 19 kills and eight digs. Donohoe was not the only freshman to step up for the young but experienced Blue Jays. Fellow rookie Mariel Metalios and Cohen both chipped in with 59 assists and six aces and 43 digs on the day, respectively.
"The biggest thing for us to be successful in games is to be in a system so that we have all of our hitters involved on offense and we can control the pace of the game," Cohen said. "When we are in system, it is very difficult for other teams to stop our hitters from putting balls down. Our defensive quickness and reading is also something that we continue to work on every day in practice and it continues to get better and better."
The Jays will match-up with Haverford in the Centennial semi-finals Friday evening at 8 PM. It is just the second time in program history that Hopkins will host the Centennial playoffs.
