DYLAN WEBB
Special to the Leader
Despite a hard fought battle against one of the best teams in the SUNYAC conference, the women’s volleyball team came up just short of taking down the defending conference champion Brockport Golden Eagles this past weekend.
Having dispatched Buffalo State three sets to zero and SUNY Cortland three sets to two, the women’s volleyball team entered Saturday evening’s game against the College at Brockport with the chance to do two things. A win would give them a perfect record for the weekend’s pool play and catapult them into first place in SUNYAC standings. Records and standings aside, they had the chance to make a huge statement by knocking off the defending conference champions.
For a while that opportunity was looking like it would become reality, with the Blue Devils opening up a two set lead by taking the two first sets with scores of 25-14 and 27-25. Jumping out to such a big lead like that seemed to awaken the sleeping giant, with Brockport storming out to a huge lead in the third set and ultimately taking it 25-10.
“They pushed us, they kept pushing back at us,” said junior Rachel Aiello after the game. “We had the momentum and we got too comfortable and had to pick it up a little.”
The team fought with a lot of heart down the stretch, but the momentum from that point onward seemed to rest comfortably in Brockport’s hands. The Golden Eagles would go on to win the final two sets 25-22 and 15-10 respectively. The loss leaves the Blue Devils with a 9-5 record overall and a 2-1 record in SUNYAC pool play. Junior Kailey Falk had 14 kills to go along with two blocks, while freshman Emma Falk contributed nine kills. Senior Hallie Christopher had 31 assists in the match and senior Courtney Poirier had a team high of 15 digs.
Despite falling just short of knocking off the defending champs, the loss didn’t seem to dampen the team’s spirits. Coach Geoff Braun has nothing but praises for his team following the tough loss.
“I’m proud of the team; we couldn’t have left anything else on the floor. We didn’t back down from the defending champs. When you play a match like that you learn from it . . . we know what we have to work on. But overall I’m proud.”
This is now a team that will keep pushing its limits even further. With a lot of season left to play they have a real shot to make some noise both in pool play and beyond. Both Coach Braun and the players feel a deep run is possible, with this weekend being a great first step down that road.
The team next takes the court on Sept. 30th against Ithaca College in Ithaca. The next SUNYAC pool play takes place Oct. 6-7, where the team will take on Oneonta, SUNY Potsdam and Oswego