Eagles Yet to Earn CAC Win

BY JOEY MERKEL

The Capital Athletic Conference has been anything but kind to the University of Mary Washington volleyball team.

After a disappointing loss Tuesday night against St. Mary’s College of MD, the Eagles remain winless in the conference.

Despite forcing a fifth game against the Seahawks, the Eagles were unable to pull out a win and went to 10-7 on the year, falling to 0-3 in the CAC standings.

Junior captain Kelley Hueber was disappointed with the loss. The 0-3 CAC season has not gone as planned.

“It gives us a reputation and our goal this year was to flip the script and change our 1-6 standings to 6-1 and right now being 0-3 is not helping,” Hueber said.

Head coach Dee Conway was also disappointed with the loss but isn’t willing to give up.

“We gotta keep battling, keep fighting,” she said.

The Eagles came out in the first game of the match  looking just as strong as the Seahawks, but St. Mary’s gained a 20-16 lead and went on a 10-3 run to win the match, 30-19.

Game two was neck and neck and eventually led to a tie at 24.
The Eagles managed to put the Seahawks away 30-27 off of a game-winning spike by Hueber past the outstretched hands of St. Mary’s defenders.

Despite a win in match two, the Eagles were unable to keep their momentum, in what became a repeat of game one with another 30-19 loss.

Not to disrupt the back and forth pattern of the evening, game four belonged to UMW, who barely squeaked past the Seahawks with a 30-28 win after a St. Mary’s spike went out of bounds.

With both teams even at two games apiece, the match went into a forced game five of fifteen points.

The Seahawks were quick on offense, quickly bringing the score to 8-3 before switching to the other side of the net.

The game ended 15-11 Seahawks, pushing St. Mary’s record to 2-0 in conference play and leaving the Eagles empty within the conference.
Hueber said the last minute loss has become a pattern for the Eagles.
“We go to five games every time, but we can’t finish it,” she said. “I guess there was a lack of focus, a lack of desire in the end.”

Despite the loss, the Eagles made it to game five with strong play from their hitters upfront, including juniors Hueber and Kathryn Carter, and sophomore Anne Lutkenhaus.

Setting the booming hitters, sophomores Rita Beale and Lindsey Scott were able to keep the Eagles in the games with great sets to the middle and the outside.

Junior hitter Erika Luera was sidelined Tuesday night with an ankle injury but is proud of the effort her team put forth.

“They played hard, it was just unfortunate that we couldn’t come out with a W,” Luera said.

Conway is proud of her squad for trying to come back after each match they lost.

“What’s exciting is that they didn’t give up ,” she said. “They kept battling, they kept fighting, that was the big thing.”

Conway is hopeful UMW will end their CAC drought and defeat Villa Julie tonight in another home match-up.