Sophomore Elizabeth Wilson goes up for the spike in Tuesday's
game against Ohio Wesleyan University.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
After a rough weekend, the women’s volleyball team (14-4, 3-0) rebounded nicely at their “Dig Pink” night, a fundraiser for breast cancer, as they took on Ohio Wesleyan University (12-5, 2-2) Tuesday night.
The Tigers have now opened North Coast Athletic Conference play with three straight victories after a three game sweep over OWU.
“I was really pleased with the way we came out,” head coach Deb Zellers said. “We were coming off a weekend where we didn’t play well overall and that always shakes your confidence a bit.”
The game against the Battling Bishops gave Sellers a chance to see how her team was capable of after getting knocked down by the University of Mount Union, Geneva College and Carnegie Mellon University last weekend.
“I was interested to see how strong they would come out Tuesday,” Sellers said.
Not that Coach had to worry—the Tigers came out and pushed their way to a 19-9 lead before winning the match 25-14 on a monster spike for the winning point.
“We bounced back from a tough weekend and worked hard to get back to who we are as a team,” junior Lauren Falotico said. “We had great teamwork Tuesday.”
In the second set, OWU had the lead early before the Tigers went on another run and pulled away to a 20-12 lead, finishing the set at 25-19.
In the third set, OWU never got within four points of the Tigers, who won it 25-15.
“It was a good win against a solid conference team,” Zellers said.
Junior Sarah Burtenshaw had 13 kills on the night, followed by Falotico with 10. Faith Rowles assisted 39 of 44 kills and Keely McGrath dug up 22 balls. Sophomore Elisabeth Wilson had four blocks.
The night was about more than volleyball though—the girls held a fundraiser called “Dig Pink” for the Putnam County Hospital’s cancer center to help people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Dig Pink night was a lot of fun,” Falotico said. “We were able to raise money and awareness for a great cause. Ohio Wesleyan also wore pink to join the Dig Pink theme of the night, which was great.”
Now that the team has reached 3-0 in conference, they plan to continue that trend.
“Our goal is to win conference, we’ve had that goal since the beginning of the season,” Zellers said. “We feel that we are a competitive and talented team, but we have a tough schedule ahead of us. We’ve had a strong start, but we need to be ready.”
The volleyball team looks to Head Coach Deb Zellers during
Tuesday night's game against OWU.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
After last weekend, the women have learned a couple of lessons.
“In order to improve, we know that we need to treat every day as a clean slate,” Falotico said. “We can't look back and have regrets about our mistakes, but we also can't be too content with our successes. As long as we are working hard each day, we will continue to improve.”
As for this weekend’s matchups against Kenyon and Marian, the team is ready to go.
“We feel confident about our home matches this weekend,” Falotico said. “We are familiar with Kenyon and Marian, but we know that our success or failure will depend on how we play, not how competitive the other teams are. As long as we just keep our focus on our side of the net, we will be successful as a team.”
The Tigers take on NCAC rival Kenyon College and Marian University at home this Saturday at 3 and 5 p.m.