After a convincing victory over William Peace on Friday, the women’s volleyball team dropped three games in a row this weekend in the Christopher Newport Invitational to drop to 3-8 overall on the season. This weekend’s matches included a 3-0 sweep of William Peace followed by a loss to Mount Union on Friday, as well as losses in straight sets to both Christopher Newport and Berry University on Saturday.
In their tournament opener, the Lady Jays started strong, taking the first set 25-8. The one-sided first set was mostly due to their unusually high .484 hitting percentage. Combined with that impressive statistic were the team’s 16 kills in the first set. Despite the very hot start, Hopkins was unable to maintain its astounding play, hitting only .150 and .100, respectively, in its next two sets. Despite this, the Lady Jays were still able to pull out with 25-14 and 25-22 victories to clinch their first match.
They were led by freshman Mereze Visagie who hit .348 to go along with her 12 kills and a solo block. Junior Ali Cox tallied up nine kills, seven digs and three service aces on top of her .318 hitting percentage. Senior Anne Cohen finished the match with six aces while the setting pair of freshman Kristi Rhead and senior Carolyn Zin had 25 combined digs.
The Lady Jays’ luck ran out later that night as they dropped three straight sets after winning the first against No. 7 Mount Union. The Lady Jays topped the Purple Raiders in the first set 25-21 before falling in the final three 16-25, 21-25, and 17-25. Hopkins struggled throughout the entire match offensively and were never able to put together a rally. The total hitting errors matched the number of kills for the Jays. Sophomore Ally Hirsch tallied 11 kills for Hopkins with Zin and Rhead combining for 27 assists. Cohen and freshman Erica Johnston put together a total of 27 digs for the match.
Johnston commented on how she has really enjoyed and embraced her role on the team so far this season.
“Everyone has such a huge role on the team this year that I honestly don’t feel like a freshman,” she said. “Still, the upperclassmen are really looking out for us ... and have shown us so much faith both on and off the court.”
The team was back in action on Saturday afternoon as they took on another top 20 team in No. 13 Christopher Newport. The first set against host CNU proved frustrating for the Lady Jays, as they finished with a mere .088 hitting percentage while falling 25-16. The second set proved to be better in the stat book but not on the scoreboard. Despite outhitting Christopher Newport .184 to .171, the team still dropped the set 26-24. CNU dominated the next set, taking the third and final set by a score of 25-16.
The story of the second match of the day didn’t vary much from the first, as Hopkins was unable to capitalize on offense. Its .110 hitting percentage for the match was more than doubled by the .237 that was posted by opponent Berry University. The offensive struggles by the Lady Jays led to a clean sweep by BU, taking straight sets 19-25, 18-25 and 16-25.
Freshman Liz Wuerstle finished with 16 kills on the day, bringing her season total up to a team high of 90. Wuerstle also recorded two service aces and nine digs. Fellow freshman Rhead led the team in passing, tallying up 35 assists on the day. Rhead joined Zin as the sole Lady Jays to have over 100 assists on the year.
The team is looking to bounce back after a tough weekend. Wuerstle believes that the team can only learn from its matches over the weekend.
“This past weekend was a learning experience for the team,” she said. “We know what we need to improve upon and are working to get better.”
Cohen finished the weekend tournament with nine service aces and 46 digs throughout the four matches. Her play was enough to get her named to the all-tournament team. Mount Union’s Kara Berger was named tournament MVP.
Hopkins is back in action Wednesday night at 7:30 in Goldfarb Gymnasium against Susquehanna. The match against their rivals from Pennsylvania will mark the first conference game of the season for the Lady Jays. Despite a tough stretch to begin the season, the team will look to bounce back to begin conference play.
