The Point Park Athletics Office canceled the Pioneers women’s volleyball match versus Oakland City University on Saturday, Oct. 10, due to the OC team coming into contact with a positive coronavirus case at Carlow University during their match. 

OC played Carlow University on Friday, Oct. 9 at Carlow University. On the following Saturday morning, Point Park Athletic Director John Ashaolu received the call saying that one of the Carlow players had tested positive for COVID-19. 

“I received a call less than two hours prior to the start of our game from the Oakland City University Athletic Director informing me that they played Carlow the previous day and that one of the student-athletes on the team tested positive for COVID-19. He wanted to share that information with me so that we can make a decision on our scheduled game,” Ashaolu said.

Ashaolu then took action with his team at the athletic office to determine the course of action that they would take.

“I called the athletic director at Carlow to get some more information, after gathering the information, I shared it with my athletic trainer and head volleyball coach, Ashaolu said. “Some of the more important parts of the information that I received was that the student-athlete in question passed the pre-game screening that all of the teams went through, and she also did not play in the game therefore had limited contact with the rest of the team.” 

Ashaolu was then given clearance to make the call on the game with his staff and other contributors.

“After a couple of conference calls with myself, the athletic directors at Oakland City and Carlow, our athletic trainer, school nurse and team doctor from UPMC, we were advised that since the risk was minimal, it was our choice as to whether we play the volleyball match,” Ashaolu said. “I shared this information with my head coach and then she spoke to her team about the situation, and the result was that our team did not feel comfortable playing the match, so we canceled the match.”

Associate Athletic Director Kevin Taylor, is proud of the decision that was made with the amount of time given.

“Point Park athletics, the volleyball team and everyone involved operated very admirably in the situation,” Taylor said. “There was a lot of information and decision making that had to be addressed in a timely fashion. Through collaboration from all of those people, the safest and healthiest outcome came about, which was to postpone the match.”

Taylor believes that ultimately the decision was the right one concerning students’ health. 

“During the process, it was a situation that called for us to keep our student-athletes and staff as informed as possible,” Taylor said. “It was a developing situation that had to take into account a lot of different factors and bring together many different decision makers.”

Ashaolu also added that he too feels that his staff made the right call at an efficient rate.

“I feel that the staff did a good job at keeping everyone informed of the situation at hand. With less than two hours prior to the start of the scheduled game on a Saturday morning, everyone that needed to be involved in the conversation was accessible and provided a rather prompt and thorough response,” Ashaolu said.

Ashaolu thinks that going forward the protocol will work at the same effectiveness as it has proven with every test the athletic office gets, but Pioneer Athletics are not out of the woods yet.

“With every situation, we feel that we are better prepared,” Ashaolu said. “This was not the first situation like this, and it will probably not be the last.”