Point Park volleyball mimicked the start of the season after losing four straight games last weekend.
“We have been working on things that will benefit us when we play in the conference games.” said junior Emily Meng.
The Pioneers started last week with a home game against West Virginia Wesleyan, winning 3-0. Unfortunately, the team had no luck at the Cornerstone/ Aquinas Tournament, coming back home with an overall record of 13-19.
The Pioneers thrived at home versus West Virginia Wesleyan with scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 28-26. The team had 32 kills together, with 14 brought in by junior Megan Branchick. Madison Weldon and Paige Baker also reached the double- digits in digs with 13 and 10 respectively.
Meng said winning is going out with confidence and playing with heart, and senior outside hitter, Isabella Vavrek agreed.
“What means more to me is the desire, passion and heart that every individual puts out there on the court,” said Vavrek. “What matters the most to me the effort and desire that we put together as a team on the court.”
At the Cornerstone/Aquinas Tournament Point Park played four schools, Siena Heights University, Aquinas College, Northwestern Ohio College and Cornerstone University
In the match against Siena Heights, the Pioneers came up short with scores of 25-23, 25-15 and 25-15 for a 3-0 loss. Simonson racked up nine kills for a team-high with help from Nikki Inquartano’s eight. Unfortunately, Branchick, Vavrek and Crisitane Chaves’s five kills each were not able to gain any wins. Morgan Dangelo and Simonson held the defense with 12 and 10 digs respectively.
Point Park volleyball is discontent with these losses.
“We aren’t satisfied,” Meng said.
The second loss of the day was to Aquinas with scores of 25-18, 24-26, 25-20 and 26-24. Inquartano and Branchick scored the team-high of eight kills. Baker added 23 digs, Vavrek gained 19 and Simonson helped with 16.
“We didn’t come together as a team and put forth all of our best efforts individually, which resulted in our team collapsing,” said Vavrek. “It was really a hard and terrible weekend for us.”
The next day of the tournament, the Pioneers battled against Northwestern Ohio, but ended with a 3-0 loss with scores of 25-22, 25-21 and 25-23. The team totaled 38 kills, Inquartano put in 12, but they failed to come up with a victory. On defense, the team racked up 41 digs, 23 of them came from Dangelo and Vavrek with 13 and 10 respectively.
Vavrek feels like she did not play her best this weekend.
“We are trying to figure out how to go up from here,” Vavrek explained. “It was a really challenging weekend mentally for us.”
The last game of the tournament was against co-host Cornerstone. The loss of 3-0 was in result of scores 25-16, 25-17 and 31-29. Branchick reached 10 kills for a team high. With help from Simonson’s nine kills and 15 digs and Meng’s 28 assists, the team put up a strong fight. A total of 28 digs gave Dangelo a career high.
Volleyball coach Mike Bruno has been giving the team game-like situation drills to help the team get back to their best.
“We have also been focusing in a lot on serve receive, which we really need to continue to do so,” Vavrek said. “He has been preparing us perfectly for the end of the season. It is on us now to deliver it to him, and to win as a team.”
Point Park’s next match is at Pitt-Johnstown on Tues., Oct. 27.
