This weekend, for the fourth time in program history, the Hopkins volleyball team appeared in the NCAA tournament held at the University of Mary Washington.
In all three prior appearances, the Jays were downed in the first round. Nevertheless, they were coming off of positive momentum from the nail-biting Centennial Conference Championship the previous weekend.
The Blue Jays were matched up against the Christopher Newport University Captains in the first round. Hopkins played the Captains at Christopher Newport earlier in the season and lost three sets to one. This time, however, the Blue Jays had starting freshman setter Sarah Elnozahy, who was out of the first matchup with a concussion.
The rematch between the Captains and Blue Jays started out well for Hopkins. They jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead. They worked to expand the lead to as many as seven, eventually going up 15-8.
From that point on, the Captains worked to close the gap, but it was Hopkins who would close out the game 25-21.
The second set started out very close, with both teams battling but neither going up more than two points until the Captains took a 12-9 lead, resulting in a Hopkins timeout.
The timeout gave the Jays time to resettle and proved to be invaluable, as the Blue Jays scored five straight points to go up 14-12. Hopkins relied on great offense to scrape out a 25-23 victory.
The third set was another nail-biter with neither team leading by more than four points. In the end, however, CNU battled to keep their hopes alive, capitalizing on some unforced errors made by Hopkins.
The Blue Jays could not overcome their service error mistakes, the biggest point of emphasis they had been working to minimize.
The fourth set turned around for the Blue Jays, as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, leading by as many as nine and riding their competent defense to a 25-16 win. They held the Captains to a -.029 hitting percentage in the set to cement the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.
Sophomore middle Sasha Gorelik led the Blue Jays’ defensive efforts, leading the team in both solo blocks and block assists with two and six, respectively. Gorelik commented on what she believed attributed to the Jays’ success.
“[It was] our ability to stay level-headed and play our game throughout the entire match,” Gorelik said.
What made the win even more significant for the Blue Jays was the fact that they were the underdogs. They were up against a team that had already beat them once before this season, but the Jays were driven to achieve the first NCAA win in Hopkins volleyball history.
“We felt an immense amount of pride after winning that first match,” Gorelik said.
Nevertheless, the Jays were not satisfied yet. The next day they faced an ever bigger challenge in the Juniata College Eagles. The Blue Jays had already faced off against the Eagles, losing 3-0 the same weekend they lost to Christopher Newport earlier this season.
After pulling out a victory the previous day against CNU, the Jays’ hopes were high that they could possibly pull out another upset win.
Hopkins came out to another quick start against the Eagles, going up 4-1 and holding the lead until it was 24-21. At this point, Hopkins fell behind, giving up five straight points to lose the set 26-24.
A loss like that would cause many teams to collapse, but the Blue Jays bounced back. They grabbed an early three-point lead and just held on after many Juniata comeback attempts. This time, the Jays kept their lead until the end of the set, winning 25-22.
With both teams holding one set, the third set was going to be a defining moment in the match.
Hopkins had their third straight early lead; this time going up 5-0 and forcing an Eagles timeout. The Eagles then rattled off seven straight points to go up 7-5.
The Eagles would have another seven point run later in the set to capture the third set win, 25-15.
With their backs against the wall, Hopkins battled Juniata in the fourth set, fighting to a 6-6 tie. It was then that the Eagles again rattled off seven straight points to go up 13-6. Juniata continued to dominate the set, leading by as much as 23-15.
Hopkins was not done. They went on a run, closing the score to 24-21 before surrendering the final point to Juniata.
Even though the season did not end as they had hoped, the Blue Jays have a lot to be proud of after making program history.
With only one senior on the team, the Blue Jays can look forward to building upon their success with the core of the team returning next season.
“We really looking forward to what the future holds for this program,” Gorelik said.
Subsequent to the Jays’ performance at NCAAs, junior Elizabeth Wuerstle earned a trifecta of awards. She was named to the AVCA North All-Region Team, D-III All-American Honorable Mention and Centennial Conference Player of the Year.
As the Blue Jays start another tireless offseason of training, stay tuned for an even deeper run from the Blue Jays volleyball team in the 2017 season.
