The Lafayette club volleyball team closed out a successful semester last weekend at a home tournament in which they came in second place out of ten teams.

“There [were] a lot of strong teams here like Delaware, Rutgers, and Yale,” explained senior club president Nina Curko. “They all brought their best teams so it was very competitive, and it was a really good outcome for us.”

Curko discussed the team’s progression this fall as well as their plans for the spring semester.

“Our team is a group of 14 girls selected for a spot on the team based on a tryout,” Curko said. “They all have previous experience playing at a pretty high level, which elevates our overall level of play and makes us a strong team.”

Curko explained that she played for her varsity team in high school as well as a year-round competitive club, a common theme on the Lafayette club team.

“It’s a nice structure to still be able to compete without having to have an intense commitment,” she said.

The team has competed in three tournaments this semester. Their first tournament was at Bloomsburg on November 7, where they also came in second. The second was at Colgate on November 14, where the team rented vans from the school to drive to.

“We woke up at four in the morning for [the Colgate tournament],” Curko said. “It was definitely an excellent bonding experience.”

Curko said that the team is committed to both practicing and forming a good team dynamic.

“We do a lot of team bonding, and we always host our pasta dinners before tournaments. We’ve all gotten to know each other really well, which translates to the court,” Curko said.

Curko also explained that the team this year is underclassmen-heavy.

“It’s been really nice to watch them grow throughout the semester,” Curko said.

While the club team has had a coach in previous years, they did not have one this year. Curko explained that this placed extra responsibility on the board, as they had to run practices and make lineups on their own while playing their own games, but that this ultimately brought the team closer together.

The rest of the executive board consists of junior vice president Dolce Whitwell, senior secretary Becca Abel and sophomore treasurer Anna Paulsen.

Next semester, the team will compete in another three tournaments, including one that will be hosted at Lafayette again. The team ultimately hopes to qualify for regionals.

“We missed out on regionals when I was a sophomore and again when I was a junior, so one of our biggest goals is to rank high enough to qualify for that, which we’re absolutely on track for,” Curko said.