The women’s volleyball team dropped back-to-back away matches this past weekend, surrendering early leads against the Naval Academy and Loyola University Maryland and extending its losing streak to five.
In Friday’s contest against Navy (6-5 Patriot League, 10-10 overall), the Leopards (2-8 Patriot League, 4-16 overall) won the nailbiting first set 30-28, with sophomore outside hitter Destiny McKenzie’s service ace securing the deciding point.
“Because the score was so close, I think I had to really tell myself to not think about anything, to keep my mind very clear, so that I can focus on where I want to place the ball, so I can focus on how fast I want it to go,” McKenzie said.
While the Midshipmen jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the second set, the Leopards weathered the storm to make it a close affair, but failed to take the lead in the 25-23 set loss. The third set was another back-and-forth affair, but Navy again eked out the Maroon and White 25-23.
“I just think we didn’t keep the same service pressure and our defense kind of slacked off a little bit during those two sets,” McKenzie said.
Set four was another clash of the two teams trading blows, before McKenzie notched the set-sealing kill off an assist from sophomore setter Mackenzie Calhoun to take the set 25-22. The momentum immediately stalled, as Navy took an early 7-0 lead en route to the blowout 15-6 set victory to clinch the match.
“We were too high, we weren’t consistent enough,” McKenzie said. “We gave way too much energy in the fourth set to win that it just tanked going into the fifth set.”
Freshman right-side hitter Jada Aksu and sophomore outside hitter Auma Mbeche-Odihambo paced the team in kills with 18 and 10, respectively.
Saturday’s contest against Loyola (4-7 Patriot League, 6-14 overall) saw the Leopards once again take the opening set, snagging a decisive 25-16 victory before immediately jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the second set.
However, the Greyhounds quickly rallied behind a number of scoring runs to pull ahead and take the set despite the early Leopard lead.
“Their service scene was better from the last time we played them,” McKenzie said, with the Leopards sweeping Loyola in their previous match. “They’re in system more often, and their offense was way more efficient than last time.”
Closing out continued to be an issue for the Maroon and White. Set four saw the Leopards give away a 23-21 lead, and set five saw the Leopards surrender a 21-19 lead to a 6-0 Loyola run, with the Greyhounds securing the 3-1 victory.
Senior outside hitter Carol Ulichney led the Leopards in kills with 11, and Mbeche-Odihambo again had 10.
The Leopards will remain on the road this weekend, taking on Lehigh University (3-8 Patriot League, 9-11 overall) and Bucknell University (4-7 Patriot League, 7-13 overall).
