After the Hofstra volleyball team fell in crushing fashion to the University of Delaware in the 2019 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) quarterfinals, head coach Emily Mansur knew some big changes were on the way for the Pride.  

Although disappointed by the defeat to the lower-seeded Blue Hens that ended her team’s season, Mansur was excited to begin a new era of Hofstra Volleyball following the departures of two Pride legends in Laura Masciullo and Luisa Sydlik.

However, that day had to wait a whole extra semester because of the cancellation of all Hofstra sports during the fall of 2020. The loss to Delaware had already left a bitter taste in the mouths of every single player and coach at that moment, but the extra delay to get back on the court made it feel far worse.

Finally, on February 20, 2021, the Pride returned to action for the first time since that cold, heartbreaking night in November of 2019. And although this past season was filled with struggles and even more COVID-related shutdowns, Mansur was grateful to have her team playing again.

“It was just wonderful to be back on the court,” Mansur said. “I think this is something we all really appreciated having this chance and we knew at any minute that could go away. Every game we got to play was a special game, especially this year after going through everything that we did.”

Hofstra started the season strong going 3-0, but after having to pause all activities due to positive COVID-19 tests within the program, they struggled heavily for the remainder of the spring.

Hofstra finished the season on a four-match losing streak, with three of those coming against their CAA rival, Northeastern University. Despite the quick downfall after the strong start and only playing seven total matches, Mansur took a lot out of this season and feels the new-look Pride are bound for more success in the future.

“There was a lot of learning and learning of people’s personalities and just many different things because it was just such a different dynamic then we have ever had,” Mansur said. “It was a different challenge but it was the best feeling being able to get a team back on the volleyball court.

Hofstra welcomed several new players to the team after the departures of seniors Masciullo, Sydlik and Eliska Truneckova in 2019. All of a sudden, after dominating the CAA for many years with their old core of stars, the Pride became one of the younger teams in the conference.

But their youth did not stop them from forming great chemistry on and off the court, even despite the strict safety restrictions and mid-season stoppage.

“I think they did a really nice job. We did miss a few key players that stayed home last semester and didn’t come back, but our student athletes who were here invested a lot of time in getting to know each other,” Mansur said. “So even with all the restrictions, they were able to be creative in different ways.”

However, growing pains are inevitable, and that is something this young Pride team went through all season during the pandemic.

“They did have a lot of challenges because of how young we were, and having the freshmen coming in not knowing anything that was going on, nothing really was the way that we usually do things here,” Mansur said. “Hofstra volleyball is so much about us really getting to know each other, becoming a family and getting our team to work at a certain level. All of this had to change this year.”

The Pride was flying high three matches into the season, having defeated the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Stony Brook University and Seton Hall University. Following their gritty victory over the Pirates on February 26, things began to shift away from their favor as they began CAA play.

They welcomed Northeastern into town for the first time on March 5 in a battle for first place in the CAA North Division, but fell in four sets. While they tried to rebound from their first loss of the season, Hofstra was handled easily by the Huskies again two days later. Just like that, the Pride was in last place in the conference.

“I think a big thing was just the pressure that comes with CAA play,” Mansur said. “I’ll take this on me because I think the ladies did a phenomenal job, but being able to teach them to translate all of the other games we played into CAA play is important. I think my assistant coaches did a really nice job, I don’t think I did, of teaching them ‘Hey, we did it before, it’s just Northeastern, we’ve beaten them many times and we know how to do it.’” 

“I think some of the girls got a little bit lost in the pressure of starting CAA [play], and if you compare the numbers of what they had before to what they had during, it was very different,” Mansur said.

It was a tough two matches for Hofstra to open conference play, and even more devastating for the Pride, they never got the chance to right the ship. Just a few days later, Hofstra had to suspend all activities due to a COVID outbreak within the program.

This shutdown caused Hofstra to miss four consecutive CAA matches, which put them far behind in the standings and with almost no time to make up for it.

“It was really tough. I think once we got to the CAA’s, and after that first weekend which was already challenging for us, we didn’t have a full team anymore,” Mansur said. “We were down eight players due to COVID, so it was a completely different challenge.” 

The outbreak caused Mansur to almost have to forfeit the remaining games on the Pride’s schedule, but many members of the team convinced her to let them play. Seeing the determination from her young team, Mansur felt she had no other option but to give her girls what they wanted.

“I was super proud of the ladies that were here because I wanted to cancel the games, I didn’t want to play,” Mansur said. “I felt that we just couldn’t represent and that it wasn’t the right thing to do. But they really wanted to play and they told me, ‘Coach, no matter what happens, we are going to do our best,’ so we went for it.”

Even in the craziest and toughest of situations, Mansur did everything she could to answer the requests of her players to continue playing, including suiting up herself in practice.

“We had our only six players playing on one side, and then us coaches on another,” Mansur said. “I haven’t played volleyball in eight years, but I had to practice. I spent the last three weeks of the season playing volleyball and coaching.”

According to Mansur, this experience was one of the toughest challenges she went through as a coach, but it also taught her a lot.

“It was definitely challenging but I learned a lot. I learned to appreciate many things in a different way,&#822
1; Mansur said. “I think it was a lot growing. I’m very thankful for the coaching staff that I have because they are wonderful and they were able to keep us going.”

In addition to the impact from Mansur during this season, senior and team captain Ana Martinovic played a crucial role in leading the team. The Serbian star entered the season as Hofstra’s active kills leader with 445 and was a huge presence in the locker room and on the court for the younger players.

“I think Ana Martinovic – and I know she’s our captain so it’s kind of a given – took a lot on her back this year,” Mansur said. “I think for the eight years I have been here, she has had the hardest job as a captain. It was really tough, and for her to stay composed and play, I don’t know how she did it.”

Mansur confirmed the senior will be returning for a fifth season in 2021 as a graduate student and will continue to provide the Pride with great leadership and tough play on the court.

“Out of all of our seniors, [Martinovic] was the only one who we had a scholarship available for to bring her back, so she is going to be here again with us for next season.”

While Masciullo was quickly climbing the Hofstra leaderboards and becoming one of the greatest attackers in team history from 2016-2019, Martinovic was quietly putting up consistently strong offensive numbers behind her.

Now, without the second all-time attacker in Pride history, Martinovic entered a new role on the team in 2020-21 while also continuing her strong play on the court.

In the seven matches this season, Martinovic led the team with 76 kills, 3.17 kills per set, 87.5 points and 3.65 points per set.

“Again, I think we had a lot of challenges this year in staying disciplined and understanding the sacrifices we had to do to make it to the end as a group, and we fell.” Mansur said. “Unfortunately, we made some bad decisions as a group and that cost us a season. I think having someone like [Martinovic] who really kept her composure and kept whoever was here going is huge.”

While the status of next season still remains unknown, including COVID-19 restrictions, scheduling and fan attendance, Mansur is fully confident in herself and her team to learn from the mistakes from this past year and have a much-improved 2021 season. 

“I am confident in all of us as a coaching staff, a returning group and all of our new players that are coming,” Mansur said. “I think we’re going to see a good amount of changes to our team … but I think it will build us and help us get ready to take Hofstra volleyball back to the level we know how to play.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics