By Ed Morrone
As a sports team, it’s easy to get down on yourself, especially after opening the conference season with an extremely close loss. However, don’t try telling that to the Pride volleyball team.
After dropping the Colonial Athletic Association opener at the University of Delaware last Wednesday in a backbreaking three-game sweep (26-30, 28-30, 30-32), it was unsure how the Pride would respond. After all, conference play brings more pressure and new challenges to the table, so any loss can be devastating.
But the Pride answered all doubts by returning to its home court over the weekend and beating CAA opponents UNC-Wilmington and William & Mary on consecutive nights.
The win over William & Mary was especially satisfying, as the Pride triumphed in thrilling five-game fashion (30-14, 30-19, 27-30, 15-30, 15-9) in front of a noisy, enthusiastic crowd at the Physical Fitness Center.
“You know, you fall down and get back up,” Pride coach Fran Kalafer said. “You have to bounce back and bounce back higher, and I think that’s what we did. We could have sulked, especially since we hadn’t lost to Delaware in a long time.”
The scores were very close, but our reaction was OK, we got the loss, but now we’re not only going to get back up but we’re going to bounce back higher and stronger.”
Junior Tessa Sphar paced the Pride (11-6, 2-1 CAA) with a team-high 19 kills and also added 15 digs, while seldom-used freshman Talita Silva sparked a climactic rally with three straight kills in the fifth game to help lead her team to victory.
The Pride also got significant contributions from senior Julie Tatar (15 kills, 15 digs), sophomore Beverly Rivera (14 kills, 8 digs), freshman Shellane Ogoshi (61 assists, 11 digs), and sophomore Catherine Durakis (a career-high 22 digs).
It was another solid effort for a team that always seems to have somebody new step up each match.
With the pep band playing and mascots Kate and Willie Pride urging the crowd on, the Pride jumped out to a torrid start, doing almost no wrong in the first two games of the match.
It out-ran, out-hustled, and outblocked the Tribe (9-7, 1-2) and appeared to be poised to coast to an easy victory, but a ten-minute break between the second and third matches because of crowd festivities allowed William & Mary to regroup and win a tight, back-and-forth game three.
After being blown out in the fourth game, the once raucous crowd grew silent. The team that dominated the first two games looked lost and confused in the fourth.
“All I can say is that volleyball is a very fluky game,” Kalafer said. “You think you’re on top and then all of a sudden we could do no right. Game five was a real test for us and I think we showed our true colors.”
After falling down 0-2 in game five, it looked as if the Pride was on course for a monumental collapse. Nothing was going right, that is until Silva stepped up and played the role of catalyst. Silva, a 6-foot-2 freshman from Raritan, N.J., provided three consecutive kills that gave a Pride a 4-2 lead that they would never relinquish.
“You have success when readiness meets opportunity,” Kalafer said. “The match gave Talita the opportunity at that point and she certainly chipped in and that really gave us a lot of strength.”
The Tribe was led by sophomore outside hitter Sarah Long, who tallied 17 kills in 39 attempts. Senior setter Amy Owens (42 assists, 14 digs) and junior middle blocker Caitlin Geraghty (nine kills, 10 blocks) also contributed in the losing effort.
The loss was especially difficult for the Tribe, who lost its second consecutive five-game match. Delaware also beat them in five games the previous night. Despite outblocking the Pride 14-7 for the match, the Tribe couldn’t complete its impressive rally.
The win boosted the Pride’s home record to an undefeated (7-0), which is the longest home winning streak since the team won nine straight during the 2002 season. It is also the Pride’s longest home court streak to start a season since it won 11 in a row to start the 1998 season.
“Home, sweet, Physical Fitness Center,” a smiling Kalafer said. “We love playing on this court and in this gym. It just makes us feel better when more people come out and watch [like they did tonight]. It’s a great team, great entertainment, and it’s only going to help us.
The Pride will not have much time to bask in the glory of its two recent conference victories, as it faces two difficult road matches this weekend against James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
After that, the conference favorite Tigers of Towson will come to Hofstra and try to end the Pride’s impressive home winning streak.
The Pride answered all doubts by beating UNC-Wilmington and William & Mary