Despite setbacks, ‘promising’ is the word that seems to exemplify the women’s volleyball team so far this season.
The team competed at the Loras College Tournament last Friday and Saturday resulting in back-to-back losses. However, the Pioneers recorded their second win of the season on Tuesday against Rockford University with a score of 3-2. The victory lifted the team’s spirit and prepared the players for the upcoming tournament this weekend.
The team’s season began two weeks ago with the University of Wisconsin –Whitewater Tournament, where Grinnell lost four games in a row, but displayed positive signs of improvement.
“I think the Whitewater Tournament showed our potential as a team as we continued to get better in every match that we played,” said co-captain Claire Weidman ’15.
The Pioneers took the next step in fulfilling their early season promise as they saw a stark improvement in the subsequent games. The process was evident in the first win of the season against AIB College of Business last Friday.
“Everything just fell in place,” said Sydney Vrecenar ’18. “It felt very natural and we were playing together really well. It was pretty exciting. There’s a completely different feeling of a team after a loss and after a win.”
Despite suffering a slight stumble last Saturday at the Loras Tournament, Grinnell immediately followed with a thrilling win. In a match where Weidman performed one of her best statistical games in her career—recording 16 kills, two shy of her career high, Grinnell emerged as victors in five sets.
The team was ecstatic from its second win of the season and the satisfaction was apparent.
“I think we showed how much better we could be doing last night when we went to Rockford,” Weidman said. “People could easily have not given the effort, but we went out and we got the win.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team where people that don’t really get to see much of the court in games are still so excited [to be] such a big part of the team,” Vrecenar added.
The team spirit is largely an effect of the wonderful leadership displayed by the captains. Lindsay Fujimoto ’15 and Sydney McClendon ’16 are the two captains alongside Weidman.
“I think the personalities of the three captains and how we have strengths in different areas is really good and balances everything out,” Weidman said. “I think we’ve come together really well as a team. We only lost two seniors last year, so this year we have a good mix and I think everyone is starting to mesh well with each other.”
Grinnell will host the ACM Volleyball this weekend. The Pioneers will face Knox College at 2 p.m. on Saturday followed by Lake Forest College at 4 p.m. On Sunday, the team will compete against Carleton College at 11 a.m. and Macalester College at 1 p.m.