The volleyball team (1-3 Patriot League, 6-7 overall) dropped back-to-back Patriot League contests last weekend, losing in straight sets against Lehigh University (2-2 Patriot League, 9-5 overall) on Friday and Bucknell University (4-0 Patriot League, 12-1 overall) on Saturday.
The Leopards got off to a slow start to the weekend, going down 17-9 in the opening set against the Mountain Hawks en route to a 25-15 loss in the first set.
“I find in most games we actually do really good at the end,” senior middle blocker Natasha Zorbas said. “Even if the other team has a huge lead, we tend to catch up in the end and fight hard in the end, but then it’s just a little bit too late.”
“If we just fix some things more in the beginning of the games, then we’d be winning,” she added.
The Mountain Hawks controlled the second set from the start, pulling away with a 25-13 finish. The Leopards faced an early 15-6 deficit in the third set but found multiple crucial kills, including two from senior outside hitter Abby Nieporte to tighten the gap before ultimately falling 25-20.
“We have dips in the middle of each set where we lose momentum and allow other teams to go on a run creating big gaps that are hard to recover from,” Nieporte wrote in an email. “Moving forward we are working on staying more consistent and taking pressure off of ourselves to allow us to play loose and stay aggressive.”
The Maroon and White stayed on the road, traveling from Bethlehem to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for a Saturday battle with Bucknell.
“I feel like the energy level was better,” Zorbas said of Saturday’s contest. “We were the louder team, had more energy than Bucknell and I think that was a big factor, and it almost seemed like there was a bit more fight maybe.”
Slow starts and momentum shifts continued to plague the Leopards, as the Bison jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set and although the Maroon and White narrowed the deficit, the Bison pieced together runs of three, four and five straight points to win the first set.
The Leopards took early control of the second set, earning a 6-3 lead thanks to two early kills by freshman outside hitter Paige Chmura. However, the Bison again found their momentum, putting together two separate 4-0 runs throughout the set.
Zorbas emphasized the importance of composure when the other team goes on a run.
“Once the other team starts getting more than two points in a row, we have to reset, focus and think like, ‘Okay, we just have to side out,’” Zorbas said. “We just have to get a first ball kill.”
Although the Maroon and White hung in tight, the Bison pulled away to close out the second set by a 25-22 margin.
“Being so close to Bucknell in the second set taught us that we need to remain calm instead of getting tense allowing us to stay aggressive and capitalize in these moments,” Nieporte wrote.
The third and final set saw the Leopards continue the trend of ceding runs, with seven unanswered points pushing the Bison lead to 13-4. As much as the Leopards clawed their way back, the lead proved insurmountable as their opponents clinched the match with a 25-18 final set win.
The Leopards continue Patriot League play with an away game tonight against Loyola University Maryland (3-1 Patriot League, 5-8 overall) followed by a match tomorrow against American University (3-1 Patriot League, 13-3 overall) at 4 p.m.
“We still aren’t even halfway through conference play,” Zorbas said. “We see everyone again. We have so many games left.”
