Women’s volleyball dominates

Starting off conference play with a bang, No. 19-ranked women’s volleyball swept its first two West Coast Conference matches against Portland and Gonzaga, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively.
On Thursday Sept. 22, Portland nearly swept the ladies as the Pilots jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead, winning both of the first two sets 26-24.
However, the team fought back and dominated the last three sets 25-15, 25-14 and 15-8 to steal the win.
Senior Kim Hill led the team with 17 kills and 15 digs. Senior Stevi Robinson recorded a match best of 26 digs.
“After the break we came out on fire and took the game to five,” Robinson said. “We made up our minds that we were not going to lose.”
Robinson also mentioned what the team took away from the close win.
“We learned that we can’t expect teams just to roll over and let us win, since we have beaten teams like UCLA and Florida State. We have to fight and play every point like it’s our last.”
The ladies faced Gonzaga on Saturday and fell behind, losing the match 25-22.
Despite the slow start, the Waves cruised through the remaining sets, 25-16, 25-16 and 25-18 to seal the team’s second conference victory.
Hill and freshman Samantha Cash contributed 16 kills each. Senior Lilla Frederick slammed down a sold 13 kills and 13 digs.
“We came back more aggressively in the last three sets,” Frederick said. “We ran the middles, which opened up a lot for us, and we also passed and served well.”
The two conference wins also concluded the team’s long string of away games. Within the past month, the ladies traveled from Ohio to Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
“I put the girls in a stressful, competitive situation before their conference matches, and they responded well,” Head Coach Nina Matthies said. “We were tired, but we played really well under the circumstances.”
Although road trips can be tiring, Matthies said, going into her 29th season of coaching, she enjoys traveling and playing in different environments.
“I keep a positive attitude [when we’re on the road],” Matthies said. “Hopefully it translates over to the girls.”
The positive attitude appears to have rubbed off on freshman Katie Messing, who explained the team goal of winning first in the WCC.
“We really want to win the WCC, so we need to keep working hard to get better,” Messing said. “We’re trying to not get caught up in rankings and focus on the next game coming up.”
Even though the team stays in California for the next five games, it has a challenging schedule up ahead, especially with the fresh competition of WCC newcomer BYU on Oct. 8.
“It’ll be a new and different experience playing BYU for the first time,” Matthies said. “They’ve never played on our home court and we’ve never played on their home court, so we’ll see how it goes.”
According to Matthies, the WCC is ranked as the fourth strongest conference in the country. She mentioned a few teams that have provided consistent competition throughout the years such as St. Mary’s, LMU and Santa Clara.
“Everyone is upgraded this season,” Matthies said. “We are looking forward to a strong, tight conference race.”