Point Park travelled to Buckhannon, WV, to play in Rockefeller Center against West Virginia Wesleyan on Friday, Nov. 1. The Pioneers lost 3-0. This match marked the Pioneers’ fourth straight Mountain East Conference (MEC) loss.
“As a team, we try and encourage each other on the court, and we try to keep our heads high even after one of us makes a mistake,” Pioneer Ana Baruh Krstic said.
The Bobcats took all three sets, with scores of 25-10, 26-24 and 25-18. Point Park left the match with an overall record of 5-18 and conference record of 3-8. Wesleyan left with an overall 13-12 record and 3-8 in the conference.
Point Park’s game leaders were Ana Baruh Krstic with eight kills and one ace, Sara Faith with four blocks, Elise Wallace with 10 assists and Rachele Tessari with seven digs.
The Pioneers got off to a rough start in the first set, with the Bobcats climbing to 12 kills and Point Park still at three. The Pioneers were unable to make a grand comeback, as the Bobcats maintained their momentum. This resulted in a dominating win of 25-10.
Point Park headed into the second set hungry for a win, but Wesleyan managed to get to 6-0 at the start of the set with errors and three consecutive aces. The Pioneers fought to stay alive throughout the remainder of the set, managing to keep pace with the Bobcats and eventually forcing the set to a deuce. Two straight kills from Wesleyan quickly put the deuce to an end, leading the set to result in a score of 26-24.
After the sore loss of the second set, Point Park went into the third set strong with two points right off the bat. That small lead was quickly shut down by the Bobcats, who scored eight points while the Pioneers remained on their fourth. Wesleyan gained momentum throughout the rest of the set, leading to a 25-18 win.
“The advantages of playing a team like Wesleyan is that we get to work on the things we saw needed improvement; the disadvantage I see right now is that we lost,” Krstic said. “We can learn something from each opponent.”
Point Park played against West Liberty on Monday, Nov. 4, and is set to play against Wheeling University on Friday, Nov. 8, at home.
“We hope to work on finishing the season strong,” Krstic said. “We still have hopes of making the tournament.”
