In sports, there is a popular allusion that in order to have a successful season a team has to win the so-called big games. That is exactly the fact that faces the Massachusetts volleyball team this weekend.
After coming off a rough second weekend of its Atlantic 10 schedule in which it won only one game in two matches, the Massachusetts volleyball team will look to rebound this weekend as it hosts Fordham and George Washington in a pair of vital games.
Both teams should prove a challenge for the Minutewomen (7-5 overall, 1-3 A-10) who are in desperate need of victories if they are going to make an appearance in this year’s A-10 Tournament – a tourney that they will play host to. Last season, the Maroon and White posted a 10-6 conference record and finished in a tie for fourth place, but due to tiebreakers, found itself on the outside looking in for the playoffs.
UMass is coming off a weekend during which it played host to two of the conference’s best teams in Xavier and Dayton. The result was a pair of losses in which the Minutewomen only won one game and posted a hitting percentage of .187, as compared to .274 for their two opponents.
The Minutewoman offense features three players who area averaging in excess of three kills per game in seniors Lymarie Llovet and Lauren Vander Veen and sophomore Nitia Small. Co-captains Llovet and Janeen DeMarte have been the strongholds on defense this season, as they have averaged 3.44 and 2.83 digs per game respectively.
Two weeks ago the Maroon and White traveled to Philly, where it took one out of two from conference foes LaSalle and Temple. The Minutewomen swept the Explorers in their Friday match, but then were upended by the perennially powerful Owls in three games.
The Rams (5-7 overall, 0-4 A-10) are the first bump in the road for the Minutewomen as they stampede into Amherst on Friday night. In order to Cage its opposing animals, the Maroon and White will have to corral sophomores Roxanne Hill and Mele Misi, who have posted 3.54 and 2.98 kills per game for the year. They are also the leaders on defense, as they have combined for an average of 5.15 digs and 1.22 blocks per game.
Fordham is on a six game losing streak, including a loss Tuesday at home against A-10 rival Rhode Island. In the hard-fought five game battle, Fordham actually out-hit its counterpart .208 to .203, but the home squad only hit .042 in the final game as compared to Rhody’s impressive .476 hitting percentage.
Last year, the Minutewomen won both matches against Fordham, both times in three games. The Maroon and White outscored the Rams in those matches by a total score of 90-57.
As for George Washington, they will invade the UMass campus for a Saturday rendezvous with the Minutewomen. The Colonials (4-7, 3-1 A-10) are led by Ruth Lazzari and Laura Harrison, who have put up 3.03 and 2.64 kills per game this season respectively. Those two, along with Sarah Hokom, anchor the defense as the three have combined for 8.82 digs per game in the 11 matches this season.
The Colonials’ last effort was an unimpressive 3-0 loss to Temple. In the contest, GW posted just as many kills as it made errors and mustered only 63 points for the game. On the other side, the Owls hit at a .300 clip, simply overpowering the Colonial defense.
Last season George Washington completely dominated the Maroon and White, winning six games to UMass’ zero. Twice the Colonials won games by a 15-2 score. In both games, departed senior Rebecca Hasson led the team in kills with 21 in the six games.
Game time for both matches is 7:00 p.m. at Curry Hicks Cage.
