The club volleyball team closed out its season last weekend by taking second place in the Northeast Women’s Volleyball Club League (NWCVL) Division II Championship. Playing on its home court, Lafayette said goodbye to seniors Theresa Chua and Dolce Whitwell by playing six matches and making it all the way to the championship game.
“We were just able to work really well as a team,” sophomore Kate Demaree said. “We all knew it was our seniors’ last tournament so we wanted to make it special for them, and getting to regionals is really special.”
This second-place finish came off the back of both a successful fall and spring season. The team won its last tournament going into winter break and then followed it up by making it to the semi-finals at the first tournament in the spring at Seton Hall. The team’s best performance came in the tournament right before regionals, when it placed first at Princeton.
“I think a lot of the improvement has come from all of the girls’ flexibilities,” Demaree said. “Girls were being thrown into positions they don’t normally play, and their open-mindedness in playing new positions while being very supportive of everyone on and off the court gave everyone more confidence and encouragement.”
After finishing tied for third in this same tournament last year, Lafayette was poised to put up a better performance at MWCVL this year, and that is exactly what the team did. The Leopards breezed through the tournament, continuing to play with the same fire that brought them a win in the tournament just two weeks ago. They fell just short of their ultimate goal in the championship game against SUNY Geneseo.
The year ends on a bittersweet note, as with the final tournament of the year comes the final curtain call for two seniors.
“We are going to miss them so much. They are two amazing volleyball players and two amazing leaders,” Demaree said of Chua and Whitwell. “It is definitely going to be hard without them next year; they are two of the best players on the team. There’s definitely going to be a hole next year because they just brought so much energy and so much fight into the game.”
The team has improved a lot since the pandemic hit, becoming a consistent winner in NWCVL Division II. While it’s losing two key players, Lafayette women’s club volleyball seems primed to continue its winning ways into next year and beyond.
“I think we can keep up this level of success. It’s going to be really hard without [the seniors], but there are still fourteen girls on the team who can maintain this high level,” Demaree said. “I know that we have also had a lot of girls reaching out that are in the incoming freshman class that are interested in playing.”
“Last year in regionals we got third; this year we got second,” Demaree continued. “I think everyone on the team is really hungry for first.”
