The volleyball team split a pair of home games this past weekend, sweeping Loyola University Maryland on Friday but falling 3-0 to Navy on Saturday.
Friday’s contest at the Kirby Sports Center saw the Leopards (2-4 Patriot League, 4-12 overall) comfortably handle Loyola (2-4 Patriot League, 4-11 overall).
Despite a close 11-10 score in the opening set, the Maroon and White pulled ahead with a 7-0 run led by blocks and kills by senior middle blocker Abby Nicholson en route to the 25-18 first set victory.
Set two continued to be a game of runs. Loyola started up 3-0 before the Leopards tallied five in a row. The Greyhounds responded with a 4-0 burst, but the Maroon and White poured on an offensive onslaught of 10 straight points.
“Consistency throughout the game is a big focus for us,” senior outside hitter Carol Ulichney said.
Although the Greyhounds chipped away at the Leopard lead, the 10-0 run proved insurmountable, as Lafayette took set two 25-21.
In set three, the Maroon and White improved upon their goal of consistency, limiting Loyola to fewer scoring runs and securing the 3-0 shutout with a 25-18 set victory. Sophomore outside hitters Auma Mbeche-Odhiambo and Destiny McKenzie led the team in kills with 12 and 10, respectively.
“There are some things that we’re working through right now,” Mbeche-Odhiambo said, noting long rallies as a target for the team to improve upon throughout the season.
Saturday’s contest against Navy (2-4 Patriot League, 6-9 overall) was a different story. The two teams traded blows in a back-and-forth first set with the score tight at 23-20.
Mbeche-Odhiambo saved a point with a dig to keep the ball in play before securing the kill with a well-placed shot, but the Midshipmen earned two of the final three points to take a 25-22 win.
“It’s always a competitive game with them,” Ulichney said of matching up against Navy. “We’re a very similar team all around.”
The Leopards shot out of a cannon to open the second set, including a powerful spike from Ulichney on the head of a Midshipmen would-be blocker, and another series of a save and subsequent kill from Mbeche-Odhiambo, as the Maroon and White took an early 7-1 lead.
“We have a good block setup,” senior libero Emily Gouldrup said. “It’s about everyone being able to fill in around that, and I think we have good moments and we have some moments where we could use some improvement.”
The Leopards could not escape the set two plague of scoring runs that took over Friday’s contest as well, with Navy quickly responding with an 8-0 run to take the lead, and later a 4-0 spurt to extend its lead.
While the Maroon and White hung in to force the score to a 23-20 deficit, the Midshipmen responded to a McKenzie attack with a powerful block before immediately forcing another Leopard attack error, winning set two 25-20.
Set three was a wire-to-wire Navy-controlled affair, as the Leopards never took a lead. While a Gouldrup-serving run saw the Maroon and White tighten the score, Navy continued to force Leopard mistake after mistake in the closing stretch of the set, securing a 25-18 victory and a 3-0 match shutout.
“Our passing was good, I think our serving was good,” Gouldrup said. “It really comes down to being able to execute on the little things, like winning those long rallies and being able to work on our game plan on our side.”
The Maroon and White hit the road Friday night with an away contest at American University (5-1 Patriot League, 12-4 overall) before returning home to battle against Holy Cross (0-6 Patriot League, 5-14 overall) on Saturday.
