Women’s volleyball rallied to win a tough five-set match Wednesday night against SUNY-Geneseo. The Yellowjackets handed Geneseo its sixth loss of the season 30-23, 23-30, 31-33, 30-23, 15-12, and beat a ranked opponent for the first time this year.
The win leaves the Yellowjackets with a 10-15 overall record, which is deceptive because the team is 0-7 in University Athletic Association games.
“Our team needed a confidence boost,” sophomore Kristin Vogt said. “We needed a big win like this to get us back up after playing so bad this weekend. This was huge for us.”
The Yellowjackets dominated the game at the net with three block solos and 28 block assists. The team also played aggressive volleyball with freshman Blair Nonaka having 14 kills, Vogt having 11 kills and sophomore Grace Kraay having 10.
The teams split the first two sets and Geneseo took the third, rallying to win in extra time after trailing UR 28-25. UR opened the fourth game quickly, building a 20-9 lead and held off a late Geneseo charge.
Rough weekend
The Yellowjackets travelled over Meliora Weekend to Brandeis University in Boston to wrap up conference UAA play at a round robin tournament against Brandeis, Case Western Reserve University, New York University and Canegie Mellon University. The team dropped all four matches but took both Case Western and Brandeis to five sets.
“The UAA is the best Div. III conference in the country,” junior co-captain Sarah Zimet said. “There are a couple of teams that are out of our calliber.”
Vogt agreed but said that “a couple of the teams [in the UAA] are at the same level as us. We just psych ourselves out.”
The Yellowjackets were swept in September at the first half of the UAA round-robin at Emory University in Atlanta against Emory, Washinton University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.
Outside of conference play, the road hasn’t been quite as rough, and the women have a winning recond.
“Teams that are not in conference are not at the same level,” Zimet said. “The conference is really good but the other teams are beatable.”
The team plays its next two games at home, hosting Medaille College tonight and St. John Fisher College next Tuesday.
During the first two weeks of November, the team will travel to New York States and the UAA Championshp at Case Western.
“All the talent is there,” Vogt said. “We just need to learn how to use it when we need it.”
Hildebrandt can be reached at thildebrandt@campustimes.org.
