By Olson Bathelemy

“I didn’t like our play tonight. We haven’t played this poorly in a while.” Those were the words of Pride volleyball head coach Lauren Netherby following the Pride’s match against the George Mason Patriots on Sunday. Surely such a quote could only have been attributed to a coach frustrated after a tough loss. However, while coach Netherby may indeed have been frustrated by her team’s performance, these words followed a victory, a three game sweep nonetheless.

Obviously coach Netherby has high expectations concerning her team and their level of play. Considering the tear the Pride has been on as of late, her lofty expectations are definitely justified. Coming into the weekend’s two matches, against James Madison and GMU respectively, the Pride had tied their best in-conference start going 5-0 against Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) competition to begin the season. The Pride had also won eight of their previous nine matches entering Friday’s match up against the Dukes of JMU. The highlights of the Pride’s early season run included wins against 2005 CAA champs Towson and, up to that point, unbeaten Delaware.

So how exactly does a team defeat an opponent in the minimum amount of possible games in yet have their performance described as poor? While a three game sweep usually presents a dominant connotation, the match against GMU was, in an oxymoronic way, a difficult sweep. The Patriots kept each game close, with their largest margin of defeat being a mere six points in the first game. The second game was the best display of GMU’s grittiness, or possibly the Pride’s inability to put the Patriots away, as GMU forced 14 tie scores. From a spectators prerogative the second game seemed highly defensive and featured many highlight reel, athletic defensive saves to keep volleys going. Though GMU’s ability to get crucial digs against the Pride’s kill attempts could be chalked up to a lack of aggressiveness at the net.

Coach Netherby summed up her concerns after the match saying, “Our offense which is usually fantastic, people weren’t hitting, we weren’t connecting very well with the setters, my outside hitters weren’t approaching very well-except for Beverly; she actually had a terrific match. My other outside hitters weren’t approaching very well. It was a little bit of discipline issues that we’re usually better at. So I was a little disappointed with that.”

Despite her frustrations, Netherby was able to find some good in her team’s performance. “Elizabeth Curley played fantastic, she blocked pretty well, and she was a good offensive threat. Our passing was pretty solid, which has been an issue for us over the last few matches. We have a great serve receive and it’s been our key to winning. We can always side out. So if our defense isn’t doing too well we rely on our serve receive.”

With the defeat of the Patriots coupled with their four game win (30-21, 30-27, 23-30, 30-27) against JMU on Friday, the Pride improved their record to 11-5 overall and more importantly boast an undefeated 7-0 record against CAA competition. The seven straight wins against CAA opposition to begin the season is the best start by the Pride in their history as part of the CAA.

With a three game sweep against GMU (30-24, 30-25, 30-25) followed by the words of their head coach, the Pride have made a statement. Specifically, even when they’re not playing at their highest intensity, they can still beat the competition with relative ease. That said GMU, coming into the weekend with an overall record of 5-7, is the caliber of opponent who more lends themselves to defeat by even a rusty Pride team. And while coach Netherby is cognizant of the statement made by the victory, she realizes such efforts will not suffice against the powerhouses of the CAA. “It makes me feel good in a sense that when we’re playing poorly we can still get a three game win. At the same time I want to be able to compete at our speed no matter who we’re playing.”

The Pride will be on the road this weekend as they face Georgia State University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.