The Elizabethtown College women’s volleyball team dug deep over the weekend to defeat both Penn State Berks and Arcadia University, winning both games in a dominating fashion while supporting student-athlete mental health.
The Lady Jays started their weekend in Thompson Gymnasium with an 11 a.m. match. Both games at home were dedicated to The Hidden Opponent, a nonprofit that aims to bring awareness and resources to student-athlete mental health.
Sophomore Marah Glenn is one of two campus captains at Etown for the Hidden Opponent. By being a campus captain, Glenn works with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to plan mental health events monthly. The entrance to the gymnasium had a table adorned with counseling resources, The Hidden Opponent information, mental health bracelets and a whiteboard where spectators could write about how they face their “hidden opponent.”
“I really enjoy working with The Hidden Opponent because they work to break the stigma against athlete mental health,” Glenn said. “As someone who has struggled with anxieties on the court, it is such a meaningful foundation that helps athletes find ways to cope with stress in their sport.”
While the Nittany Lions had a strong start with three kills in the first three plays, Etown was able to respond with four kills shortly after. The rest of the first match saw numerous kills by the Lady Jays, and plenty of attack errors by Penn State Berks.
Etown took home match one, with a commanding 25-13 win. Head Coach EJ Smith credits this success to the team cohesiveness and captain leadership.
“The team culture is excellent which starts with our captains Lucy Stern and Kate Barbon,” Smith said. “Our defense is strong as well.”
Set two provided a win to Penn State Berks, but the Etown women didn’t let that keep them down. They would come back to win sets three and four in 25-13 and 25-15. Sophomore Lucy Stanek recorded 18 kills over the three matches.
Glenn believes the team used this win at home to continue momentum into the second match later that day.
“After coming off two losses on the road, getting a win in our first home game gave us the momentum and energy that carried us into the tougher second game,” Glenn said.
Arcadia University had two attack errors at the beginning of match one, but they didn’t ease up. Match one saw back and forth action from both teams, but Etown ultimately came away with the win with a 25-18 score.
Using the rhythm from match one, the Lady Jays were able to defeat Arcadia in the next two matches, winning the game 3-0. Senior captain Kate Barbon led the team with nine kills.
Coach Smith feels this game was a good step in the right direction. “The take away is that the more we build each other up, the more we can achieve,” Smith said. “Communication, working together, and playing one point at a time will help us progress through the season. Serving, passing, blocking, and attacking the ball the way we did today will project to more wins.”
“I think we need to continue working towards bringing that competitiveness right from the start of each game to get energy high early on, which sets us up beautifully to continue competing throughout the whole match,” Glenn said.
The women’s next home match will be on Sept. 17 versus Haverford College at 7 p.m.
