Many states in our great nation have that one thing that makes them unique. Idaho has its potatoes, Florida has its oranges, and Kansas has its tornadoes. Unfortunately, Ohio is one of those states that become lost in the middle of things. However, the Buckeye State might now have a new claim to fame to advertise: dominant volleyball teams.
The Massachusetts volleyball team found this out the hard way when it lost a pair of matches last weekend in its annual trip to Ohio. Facing off against Dayton and Xavier, the Minutewomen showed glimpses of the dominant offensive performances shown in its two previous contests, but could not string together a consistent attack against two of the top teams in their conference.
“We expected a really tough weekend, since Dayton and Xavier have always been in the top four since I’ve been here,” senior leader Lauren Vander Veen said.
Friday night, the Minutewomen bolted out hard but ultimately fell to a tough Flyers squad, 3-0. The Maroon and White came out hungry against the hosts and competed valiantly in the first game, but fell short, 31-29. However, the offensive struggles that have haunted the Maroon and White periodically this season returned in the second frame as the visitors registered an .000 hitting percentage in dropping a 30-22 game that left them facing a 2-0 deficit heading into the locker room.
The UMass attack gained a little more firepower after the break, but the talented Dayton team proved to be too much as the Maroon and White lost game three by a tally of 30-25. With an impressive opening frame, the Minutewomen believed they could hang with one of the more dangerous squads in the Atlantic 10, but mistakes again proved to be their Achilles heel.
“I thought in our first game against Dayton, we did some good things,” Head Coach Bonnie Kenny said. “But then we missed two critical serves after 28 points; that shot our feet off.”
“We thought we were in there, we thought we could compete them; we just had to limit our mistakes,” Vander Veen said. “But then we just got on a couple bad runs that really hurt us.”
Clare Baxter led the Minutewomen against the Flyers, tallying 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while Nitia Small slammed home eight kills and contributed eight digs on the defensive side. However, the Dayton duo of Xinxin Zhang and Katie Ferriell could not be contained, as Zhang threw down 14 kills and Ferriell racked up 13 terminations en route to the sweep.
Saturday evening, the Maroon and White again started off strong in the opener against Xavier. However, the Maroon and White on this night had the pleasure of matching up against the Musketeers’ offensive powerhouse and reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Sara Bachus. Bachus was held to an impressive but not dominant 12 kills on the evening, but the Xavier attack received help from many different sources, as five Musketeers recorded at least eight kills in the match. Again, the UMass attack had signs of efficiency but struggled against the Xavier defensive wall in falling 3-0 for the second straight night (30-27, 30-20, 30-20).
The Minutewomen had been gaining confidence in their attack after destroying LaSalle and non-conference opponent Providence in their two previous contests, hitting over .350 in each of those match-ups, but could not maintain the same intensity over the weekend.
“I think against Xavier [our offense] got a little bit better, but they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they can hit harder than us, so there’s only so much we can do against such a dominant team,” Vander Veen said.
“I don’t think Providence and LaSalle are anywhere near in the league that Dayton and Xavier are,” Kenny said. “We can’t play average against good teams, and that’s basically what we did.”
