By Cooper Sutton
Contributing Writer
The women’s volleyball team finished its non-league schedule poorly this weekend, losing three matches by a combined score of 9-1 in the Columbia Classic in New York.
The Bison lost their first match of the tournament on Friday against Fairleigh Dickinson. They dropped the remaining two matches on Saturday, losing to Columbia and Fordham. The Bison won one game against Fordham.
“Although we didn’t pull out a win, we still had moments of awesome volleyball—we just weren’t able to string points together,” Heidi Kamp ’11 said.
Ragin Jackson ’11 was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second week in a row. The middle hitter recorded 16 kills and 11 blocks in her three games. Coming into the weekend Jackson had a hitting percentage of .291, high enough to rank fourth in the Patriot League.
The Bison‘s record now stands at 2-10.
The team’s best hope for a win came in the final match of the tournament against 8-7 Fordham. The first set featured 60 hard-fought points, but the Orange and Blue finally came out on top, 31-29. But the Bison failed to capitalize on their momentum. Fordham regrouped and won the next three sets consecutively.
The other two matches were less competitive. Against Columbia, the Bison hit a staggeringly low percentage of .019, after hitting .110 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Columbia out-hit the Bison by over .150 points, and the knights of FDU posted a hitting percentage that was .200 points better.
In the end, this weekend should only help the team, which starts its Patriot League schedule today. The team’s non-league schedule has been unusually tough; this weekend’s opponents had an overall record of 19-17.
Although the Bison have not found success thus far, the team remains optimistic.
“This weekend was another learning experience for the team. Although the results didn’t show it, the team has made strides… We all need to realize the potential and talent we have and start executing our skills in order to be on our way to a Patriot League Championship,” Kat Tauscher ’13 said.
