Although the match was only being played for pride, the members of the Massachusetts volleyball team left Curry Hicks Cage with their heads held high.

The Minutewomen finished up their 2001 campaign strongly with their fourth consecutive win, beating Duquesne 3-1 at home on Saturday night, albeit too late to qualify for the conference postseason. Nevertheless, the Maroon and White played up to its potential during the last few weeks, and if not for its midseason struggles, UMass would be playing with the elite teams of the Atlantic 10 during the conference tournament being played at Curry Hicks Cage this weekend.

For seniors Lauren Vander Veen, Janeen DeMarte, Celia Wiste, and Lymarie Llovet, it was their last match in a UMass uniform. Fortunately, their last memory of Minutewomen volleyball will be one of victory.

It was Nitia Small, however, who shined on Senior Night for the Minutewomen. The sophomore continued her offensive rampage on Atlantic 10 foes, leading the Minutewomen in kills for the fourth consecutive match. She has totaled at least 16 kills in each of those contests, all Maroon and White victories. Her .300 hitting percentage against the Dukes was also among the team leaders.

UMass jumped out to a 1-0 lead out of the gates, as they won a tightly contested opening frame by a tally of 30-28. Duquesne rebounded in the second game, however, to deadlock the teams going into the halftime break.

In game three, the Minutewomen continued their tendency to perform strongly out of the locker room, thrashing the Dukes en route to a 30-22 triumph, and finished off the visitors with a 30-26 win in the fourth frame. UMass took advantage of an anemic Duquesne offense that committed 32 attack errors and 11 service errors on the evening en route to a .156 hitting percentage.

Along with Small, the Minutewomen received strong offensive and defensive performances from each of their graduating seniors. DeMarte (11 kills, 8 digs), Llovet (12 kills, 14 digs), Vander Veen (9 kills) and Wiste (5 kills) all said goodbye to UMass volleyball on a positive note, each having extremely successful final campaigns. Vander Veen, Llovet, and DeMarte each had over 200 kills for the season, and Llovet finished with the team lead in digs.

The 2001 Maroon and White volleyball season will most likely be looked on with mixed emotions by the squad’s members. UMass was a force to be reckoned with early on in the year, as Head Coach Bonnie Kenny’s team won five consecutive matches at one point and was well on its way to establishing itself as an Atlantic 10 powerhouse.

Offensive struggles soon began to plague the Minutewomen, however, as their attack was rendered ineffective as the season progressed. The Maroon and White dropped six of eight Atlantic 10 matches during one stretch, and its drop in the conference standings was too large to recover. Still, the Minutewomen have a lot of encouraging things to look upon for next year.

Despite losing four of its top players, UMass will be returning a solid corps of players to make a run at Atlantic 10 glory. Small will be leading the returning starters along with junior Jitka Stehnova, who became more comfortable in setting the table for the UMass attack as the season progressed. Also returning will be freshmen Michelle Spaleta and Amy Chan, who both proved to be solid contributors for the Maroon and White defense.

The Minutewomen will use their four-match winning streak as a cornerstone to build on for next year, and with a large group of veterans and underclassmen returning, UMass should be a dominant presence in the Atlantic 10.