By Olson Bathelemy

Nearly 10 months to this day, the Pride volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Not only were Hofstra’s hopes of winning the CAA title dashed, but the team also had to endure watching the Rams win the title in their gym. On the path towards returning to CAA title contention, the Pride was on the road this past weekend. In the final match before a long stretch at home, the Pride faced the very team that eliminated them last year. While a win, especially this early in the season, would not exactly be a tremendous measure of revenge, it would surely be a step in the right direction.Just as the Rams had relatively little difficulty defeating the Pride in the last meeting, winning in three straight games, the Blue & Gold dispatched the Rams this time with relative ease. “We had a little vengeance to lay rest to with VCU, I won’t lie,” interim head coach Lauren Netherby said. “That match gave us confidence and motivation to keep working through the bumps in the road because it felt so good to win. We came ready to compete. We stopped worrying about errors or losing, and started competing to win.”Leading the Pride to its 3-1 victory (30-20, 25-30, 30-26, 32-30) was senior outside hitter Beverly Rivera with a career high 22 kills. Seniors Dana Schaefer and Elizabeth Curley contributed with 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Down 18-16 to VCU in the first game, the Pride went on a crucial 10-0 run to help secure the first game. However, the Rams struck back, taking the next game, 30-25. Perhaps realizing the personal gravity of the situation, the Pride bounced back and took the third game, never trailing from the first point to the 30th. In what proved to be a much more challenging, seesaw fourth game, it took four game points before the Pride could put the match to bed.”It was a highly offensive match up that was fun to watch, Netherby said. “Our blocking was fantastic and our offense was powerful. It was nice to see our women rise to the occasion.”The victory against VCU marked a successful ending to a road trip that didn’t start off that way. Last Wednesday, the Pride visited St John’s for what has become a mini-rivalry in the Fifth Annual Queens-Nassau Cup Match. The Pride lost to the Red Storm in three games. The loss prompted some serious introspection on the Pride’s part as, according to coach Netherby, “After the St. John’s loss we held extensive meetings regarding leadership and what each person needs to bring to the table in every practice/match – whether they’re comfortable with it or not. The breakdowns during the match were in every player and every facet of our game. The meetings worked and we came out with more consistency and communication than we’ve had in the past.”The meetings seem to be working as, prior to its big win against the Rams, Hofstra beat William & Mary in four games on Friday. Junior Setter Shellane Ogoshi was the driving force behind the win with a game-high 52 assists while Curley doled out a team-high 14 kills. “William & Mary played a great defensive match, but we let our offense and blocking do the work to hold them back,” Netherby said. “We didn’t have all cylinders firing during the match, but teammates stepped up to cover for them.”

As much as a turnaround the loss to the Red Storm proved to be, Netherby admits just how much more important the CAA matches are. “Conference wins mean everything,” she said. “I want to learn lessons in non-conference, and win in conference. Last year we only suffered a few losses in conference. I care how we finish this year. All the work we put in now is to win all of our conference tournament matches. We want the title this year.”The Pride is primed to put in quite a bit of work in the coming week as the team will host four straight CAA matches at the Physical Fitness Center, starting with Delaware this tonight and Towson on Sunday.

Rivera has been instrumental in Pride’s recent success. (Brian Ballweg/ Athletic Dept.)