By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
Hofstra’s volleyball team continued its conference play this weekend by taking on James Madison and George Mason in two must-win situations. The ladies from Hofstra knew this, but fell short, losing both matches and falling to 6-15 overall and 0-4 in the CAA. “We don’t know how to win [when it’s really important]” said head coach Kristina Hernandez. “That is really hurting us right now.”
In the first set against the Dukes, Hofstra trailed early but notched it up at 13 – 13 on an attack error committed by James Madison. A few more points went by and the two teams were tied again at 17 thanks to a kill from Hofstra graduate student Marina Markovic. With the set winding down the Pride tried to stay aggressive, but it was not enough. Eventually James Madison would win the set 25-22 on an attack error and go up 1-0 in the match. “We need to be more aggressive towards the end of the game and not give away easy points,” explained Hernandez.
Following the loss, the second set played out to be just as exciting as the previous one. With high energy and numerous momentum swings, both teams were in great position to take the set. Although Hofstra only lead James Madison by one point early in the match, the Pride never trailed by more than three points. “Our defense wasn’t solid enough” stated Hernandez, “and that kind of killed us because we’re usually good with our defense.” With both teams sitting at 24 points, the killer instinct that Hernandez is waiting for Hofstra to develop came out in James Madison and they closed the match out on two kills coming from Danielle Erb and Megan Wiechmann.
With its back to the wall, the Pride knew it needed to do something special to win three straight matches. Like the first two sets, the Pride kept up with the Dukes throughout the set. Exchanging multiple lead changes, the Pride found itself trailing 20-22 late in the set and it could not dig itself out. Again, James Madison took advantage of Hofstra’s weakness and finished out the set with three consecutive kills from Kelly Turner. “We just have to focus on what to do at the end of the set,” said a frustrated Hernandez after the match.
Two days after the James Madison match, Hofstra hosted defending conference champion George Mason University in the Physical Fitness Center. “Our biggest game plan was to serve to their outsides to try and slow them down a bit” Hernandez said. Although the Pride had its game plan, it was not enough to stop a bigger George Mason team. Mason jumped out to early leads and maintained them fairly well, controlling the Pride in all three sets. In the first set, George Mason topped Hofstra 25-20. Following the tough loss, Hofstra fell into a deeper hole dropping another set to the Patriots, 19-25. Playing with its backs to the wall, like in many matches this season, Hofstra could not create momentum to seal a victory. The Patriots finished off the match beating the Pride 25-23 in the third and final set.
One positive for the Pride to take from the last set was the battle for match point. “If we play like we did for that last point, I think we can do some good things,” Hernandez said.
Once again, Hofstra dropped three sets, but it was in striking distance in every one of them. “Our outsides have to be able to make good plays at the end of the match” explained Hernandez. “We had plenty of opportunities, we just didn’t use them well.”
Freshman outside hitter Shelby Young (25) spikes on Seton Hall. (Sean M. Gates/ The Chronicle)
