2008 Woodie Awards
Volleyball falls to Vulcans
By David Duke
Issue date: 10/7/05 Section: Sports
After starting the week with four wins at the Clarion Invitational, the Slippery Rock University women's volleyball team ended the week's action losing at home Tuesday night.
The Rock fell to the California Vulcans, 3-1 (17-30, 30-26, 22-30, 28-30).
The first game was dominated by the Vulcans 30-17, leaving SRU stumbling out of the gates. However, in the second game, the Rock stormed back to even the score with 30-26 victory. California then took the third game, 30-22, setting up both squads for a pivotal fourth game.
Once again the Vulcans jumped out to a 27-17 advantage. The Rock then staged a huge comeback, making the score 29-28 in favor of Cal. The Vulcans then scored the final point to halt SRU's comeback bid and win the match.
"Cal is a very good team, and we just didn't play consistent enough to beat them," coach Laurie Lokash said. "There were too many spurts where we lost too much ground, but we're a young team and you will have that with three freshmen on the floor. The freshmen just need to realize they're good players and shouldn't get down on themselves, but they're young. They will get better."
The loss dropped the Rock (18-6, 2-3) into a third place tie with IUP, and also dropped the team in a tie for the third and final playoff spot in the PSAC Western Division.
SRU's successful weekend in Clarion started off with two non-conference victories over Virginia Union and Geneva. The Rock defeated Virginia Union, 3-0 (30-16, 30-14, 30-22) and later trounced Geneva College, 3-0 (30-12, 30-25, 30-11).
Leading the way for the Rock was freshman Anastasia Urbanik, who finished the two-game set with 27 kills and six blocks. Strong performances by junior Sara Kirsch (50 assists, 6 blocks) and junior Gwen Oberlin (20 digs) also helped pave the way to an easy first night of competition.
On Saturday, the competition stiffened but the end result remained the same. The Rock swept two more matches against Anderson, 3-0 (30-25, 30-20, 30-22) and Lees-McRae, 3-1 (30-20, 30-23, 27-30, 30-27). Once again leading the way was Urbanik with 25 kills and Kirsch with 90 assists in the two Saturday contests.
Lokash said she was pleased with her team's overall performance.
"We played fairly efficiently on the first day," Lokash said. "The competition was better on day two and we had a few stretches where we lost our confidence, but overall for a younger team we did well at the Invitational."
Lokash said she hopes to see her team in the playoffs.
"We would like to go through the weekend without losing a match," Lokash said. "This team feels it should be in the playoffs and less than that would be a disappointment."
The top three teams from the PSAC Western Division make the playoffs, but getting in won't be an easy task for the Rock.
"The strength is in the West," Lokash said. "The East is improved and we just need to bring some consistency and make sure we come to play everyday."
The Rock fell to the California Vulcans, 3-1 (17-30, 30-26, 22-30, 28-30).
The first game was dominated by the Vulcans 30-17, leaving SRU stumbling out of the gates. However, in the second game, the Rock stormed back to even the score with 30-26 victory. California then took the third game, 30-22, setting up both squads for a pivotal fourth game.
Once again the Vulcans jumped out to a 27-17 advantage. The Rock then staged a huge comeback, making the score 29-28 in favor of Cal. The Vulcans then scored the final point to halt SRU's comeback bid and win the match.
"Cal is a very good team, and we just didn't play consistent enough to beat them," coach Laurie Lokash said. "There were too many spurts where we lost too much ground, but we're a young team and you will have that with three freshmen on the floor. The freshmen just need to realize they're good players and shouldn't get down on themselves, but they're young. They will get better."
The loss dropped the Rock (18-6, 2-3) into a third place tie with IUP, and also dropped the team in a tie for the third and final playoff spot in the PSAC Western Division.
SRU's successful weekend in Clarion started off with two non-conference victories over Virginia Union and Geneva. The Rock defeated Virginia Union, 3-0 (30-16, 30-14, 30-22) and later trounced Geneva College, 3-0 (30-12, 30-25, 30-11).
Leading the way for the Rock was freshman Anastasia Urbanik, who finished the two-game set with 27 kills and six blocks. Strong performances by junior Sara Kirsch (50 assists, 6 blocks) and junior Gwen Oberlin (20 digs) also helped pave the way to an easy first night of competition.
On Saturday, the competition stiffened but the end result remained the same. The Rock swept two more matches against Anderson, 3-0 (30-25, 30-20, 30-22) and Lees-McRae, 3-1 (30-20, 30-23, 27-30, 30-27). Once again leading the way was Urbanik with 25 kills and Kirsch with 90 assists in the two Saturday contests.
Lokash said she was pleased with her team's overall performance.
"We played fairly efficiently on the first day," Lokash said. "The competition was better on day two and we had a few stretches where we lost our confidence, but overall for a younger team we did well at the Invitational."
Lokash said she hopes to see her team in the playoffs.
"We would like to go through the weekend without losing a match," Lokash said. "This team feels it should be in the playoffs and less than that would be a disappointment."
The top three teams from the PSAC Western Division make the playoffs, but getting in won't be an easy task for the Rock.
"The strength is in the West," Lokash said. "The East is improved and we just need to bring some consistency and make sure we come to play everyday."
