Volleyball concludes a winning season of 19-12

By: Olivia Stuart

Staff Writer

The University of Mary Washington’s volleyball team concluded their fall season with a winning 19-12 record. The Eagles came third in their conference behind UC Santa Cruz in second and Christopher Newport University ranked first.

On Nov. 5, the Eagles closed out their season against the Christopher Newport University Captains with a close 2-3 loss.

“That five-set game was probably one of our best and most meaningful games we’ve played all season,” said Hannah Livermon, a freshman and undecided major on the team. “We chose to step up to the challenge and go out swinging, and I couldn’t be more proud of how well everyone played.”

In the first set of five against CNU, the Captains beat the Eagles with a score of 25-20. The Eagles tied it up in the second set with a score of 25-14, and UMW again won in the third set with a score of 25-17, placing them in the lead. However, the Eagles could not keep the lead, as the Captains took the fourth set with a score of 18-25 and the fifth set with a score of 11-15. 

“As a team, we all look forward to playing them,” said Emily Flamm, a freshman history major on the team. “Though this was a hard way to end the season, we will be using this as motivation in the offseason as well as next season.”

To prepare for their matches with their rival CNU, UMW had to “push harder in practice, watch a lot of film of them, and mentally put [themselves] in a position to fight [their] hardest in order to beat them,” said Livermon. “We focus more on our skill and the intensity levels in practices leading up to those games [CNU],” said Olivia Casey, a senior biomedical sciences major on the team.

During the CNU game, the Eagles had thirteen blocks to the Captains’ ten. CNU had a higher hitting percentage of 0.107%, while UMW’s was 0.105%. The number of digs was almost the same, as Mary Washington had sixty-five and Christopher Newport had sixty-four. Mary Washington again dominated in aces, having eight compared to Christopher Newport’s five.

“CNU is our biggest rival and has been a personal challenge for us every year,” Livermon said. When asked about the energy during the game, she said, “You can feel it on and off the court. Everybody wants to win so badly and play the greatest volleyball they’ve ever played.”

Sophomore conservation biology major Emma Hadley and senior psychology and neuroscience major Aiden Finegan each had 11 kills during the CNU game. 

“I can clearly see the amount of work and dedication my teammates and this program have dedicated to each other over the years to becoming better athletes, students and people,” said Livermon.

Overall this season, the Eagles won eight out of their nine home games, five out of twelve away games and six of ten neutral location games.

“This season was different from any other season,” said junior business administration major Makenna Santinga. “Being back was great, but going from a freshman to a junior basically due to COVID was crazy.” 

As their season came to a close, the players have started setting goals for next season.

“I’ve set goals for myself both physically and mentally for the offseason and the seasons to come,” said Livermon. “I want to be stronger, faster and smarter than I am now and that comes with putting in a lot of work in the weight room and in the spring season.”

The team’s goals include a future postseason run. 

“We kept our goals on a whiteboard all season to be reminded of what we were working towards,” said Flamm. “We have a goal for the seasons to come of getting back to the success seen in the 2016 season. We hope to win our conference and push for a strong postseason run.” 

According to Santinga, the Eagles “definitely want that conference ring, but our eyes are set on making it to the NCAA tournament.”

To close out their season, seniors were gifted a photobook, personalized notes from other players and a signed photograph of the team. 

“I was happy with the team’s senior night celebration,” said Casey, who also explained her mindset as a Division III athlete. “Be bought into the program 110 percent, and don’t give anything less than that. Being a DIII player is all for the love of the sport.”