Elizabethtown College women’s volleyball team had a very competitive two days this past Friday and Saturday.
The Blue Jays swept Rochester University 3-0 on Friday, Sept. 20 in Thompson Gymnasium. They led for part of the match against York College, before a disappointing loss of 3-1. On Saturday, the Blue Jays faced Stockton College and the game ended 3-0, with the win going to Stockton. Saturday afternoon, Cairn University slid by with the win after a close game, with a score of 3-2.
Head Coach Randall Kreider’s main goal for this season’s Etown women’s volleyball team is to reach the conference championship match in November. He believes that this team has the capability to reach the championships with a stronger defense than in years past; improvement that is sure to help the team become a contender.
Kreider is confident that the leadership skills from senior Carolyn Lukiewski and the junior class will help carry the team to their goal. Lukiewski has set a personal goal for herself this season to be the best libero in the MAC conference. As a senior, she believes that it is extremely important for her to act as a responsible and respectable leader for all of her teammates. Lukiewski believes that their closest competition this season will be Messiah College and Lebanon Valley College. She said that, “there has been an ongoing rivalry for both teams [Messiah and LVC], it is important that Etown shows them our skills and beat them, seeing as this is our last year playing in the MAC conference.”
Lukiewski is very excited for the team this year and believes that there is potential to meet the goals that the coaches and team have made for themselves. Lukiewski is excited about the matches, because they improve the team’s skills and chemistry throughout the season. Last year, Etown lost in the semi-finals to Messiah. Lukiewski said that the Blue Jays are “fully capable of redeeming ourselves this year and winning MACs.”
The sweep against Rochester on Friday showcased the Jays’ grit after losing to York earlier that day. Sophomore Juliana Mowen and junior Kelci Scannapieco slammed 19 kills between them. Another contributor was sophomore Abby Thrift with eight, while Lukiewski and sophomore Brynne Kirsch came up with 25 digs. Sophomore Shannon Deck put away two service aces. Sophomore Mary Clyne added to the domination of Rochester with 25 assists.
Saturday was a tough day for the ladies. They were swept by Stockton in the early match (3-0). Cairn also proved difficult with a five set nail-biter of a match winning 3-2. Despite many career high individual statistics being posted by the Jays on Saturday, it was the day for Stockton and Cairn to come out on top.
The team competed again Widener University during a home match on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The team won 3-0, which brought their conference record to 4-0 and 10-7 overall.
Last year, the Jays finished third in the championships behind Stevenson and Messiah, which placed Etown in third place in the 2013 Commonwealth Conference Volleyball Preseason Poll. There’s a lot of season left before championships and every game, set and match will only further hone the skills of our already finely tuned team.
