By Olson Barthelemy

It was really all a matter of time. As unorthodox a comment as it is to make, the regular season for the Pride volleyball team was merely a means to an end. After a rocky start, the Pride proved there would be no letdown from its disappointing finish in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Tournament the year before. One 12 match win streak later the Pride is right where it was last year: winner of the regular season CAA title and host of the CAA tournament. But will the outcome be any different this year?

The events leading to the Pride’s second ever CAA regular season title truly epitomize the difference a week can make. Less than seven days before its match against George Mason the Pride found its hopes of a perfect conference record dashed as a result of a Towson three game sweep and was left to pick up the pieces. Fast forward to this Friday and the Pride experienced a reversal of fortunes as it had beaten the Patriots in three straight games (30-27, 30-25, 30-22), but more importantly had secured at least a share of the CAA title.

Leading the Pride in its victory was senior middle blocker Elizabeth Curley with a match high 16 kills and a .400 hitting percentage. Early on this season Curley emphasized her increased desire to make this a successful year as it would be her last with the team and she reiterated those sentiments saying, “I’m glad we could come out on top this year because this is my last year and I am just hoping we can continue our success and win the CAA.” Rounding out the offense for the Pride were Beverly Rivera and Lauren Engle with 13 and 11 kills respectively.

Unlike last year’s campaign where the Pride won the regular season title in their final match of the season, they were assured of at least a share of the title this season with three more matches left to secure it outright. Of course winning its next match instead of its final one would be preferable for the Pride but standing in its way was James Madison University which looked to be the second best team in the CAA.

Looks, however, can be deceiving and showing just what a force this team has evolved into, the Pride secured victory, sole possession of the regular season title, and the right to host the CAA tournament all in three games (30-28, 30-28, 30-26) and a dainty hour and a half. Solid efforts by Lauren Engle (14 kills), Elizabeth Curley (11 kills) and Shellane Ogoshi (35 assists) on offense accounted for the victory over a JMU team that should be one of if not the Pride’s main adversaries during the CAA tournament.

Sophomore setter Shellane Ogoshi was cited the streak ending loss against Towson as an impetus for the team’s success. “I think the loss last week was actually really good for us. I think we were a little complacent where we were and it really motivated us. It reminded us that we had to work every single day in practice and we can’t expect every team to just rollover for us. “

A major advantage of securing the conference relatively “early” in the season is that the Pride now can use the remaining two games to suit their needs. Head coach Lauren Netherby agreed with this assessment saying, “I’m hoping to give some of my backup players a little bit of experience in case we need to use them in the championships. We have some good people coming off the bench but they lack some game time experience. I think we may have some opportunities to do that and rest some of our starters.”

The regular season ends after the Prides face UNC Wilmington and Georgia State this coming weekend. Then the Pride’s attempt at redemption truly begins as the best of the CAA make their way to Hofstra for the CAA tournament.

Getting back to dominating ways – Hofstra 3, George Mason 0