Catherine Kong, Contributing Photographer
The Yellowjackets took the volleyball court with a 2-2 record before finishing their home stand Tuesday night with a final record of 7-2. That statistic alone allows for an assumption to be made: University of Rochester volleyball has been rejuvenated and is ready to compete this year.
This past weekend, UR Volleyball competed in a home-hosted invitational tournament. The ‘Jackets were accompanied on the court by the Houghton Highlanders, the Hamilton College Continentals, the Oswego State Lakers, the SUNY Geneseo Knights and the St. John Fisher Cardinals for this regional tournament.
The UR squad has four returning seniors, including Jennie Ford and Emma Gira who led the team in 2014 for kills and blocks, respectively. This crew also saw the home debut of five freshman; setter and right side hitter Audrey Goldfarb, defensive specialist Courtney Vidovic, right side hitter and middle blocker Kayla Sell and outside hitters Alara Kocak and Elizabeth Thomas.
After losing two matches straight on the road against Lebanon Valley College and Fredonia State, the ‘Jackets swept the Houghton Highlanders with a score of 3-0. UR outscored the Highlanders 59-31 and racked up 39 kills to Houghton’s 24. Jennie Ford and sophomore Alexandra Nelligan racked up 10 kills apiece, along with two blocks each for Nelligan and Gira. Senior Ashley Hunter led the way with 22 digs and junior Aimee Kohler provided 30 assists.
The ‘Jackets weren’t able to capture their second and third matches of the tournament quite as easily. In the second match against the St. John Fisher Cardinals, the ‘Jackets faced an early deficit. After losing the first two games due to a multitude of unforced errors, UR miraculously won all of the last three sets to win the match.
The comeback was orchestrated by the collaborative stylings of Gira and Ford, who had 16 kills apiece and racked up six blocks and three aces, respectively. In this match, we saw the emergence of Goldfarb who had six assists against the Cardinals.
The third match saw the ‘Jackets jumping out ahead 2-0, but then they faltered in the third set. Fortunately, UR found a way to shut down the Geneseo threat with the help of Ford, Gira, sophomore Shira Katz and junior Alexandra Goldman. Ford racked up sixteen kills, followed by Katz with twelve and Goldman with seven. Gira and Goldman led the way with four blocks each, followed by Katz with three.
In the final match of the invitational, the ‘Jackets outscored Oswego State with a score of 58-33.5. UR successfully swept the Lakers with the help of Ford notching 11 kills, along with Gira and Katz recording nine and eight kills, respectively.
Fast forward to Tuesday evening at the Palestra and the ‘Jackets continued their regional tear. They handed the College of Brockport their first loss of the 2015 season. Before facing UR, the Golden Eagles had won all of their contests in straight sets. The usual suspects, Ford and Gira, were on a roll, racking up a combined 32 kills, along with senior Libero Ashley Hunter, who picked up 19 digs.
With a strong base of seniors in Ford and Gira, an experienced setter in Kohler and with exceptional younger support within the sophomore class from Nelligan and Katz, this team of ‘Jackets looks rather impressive. This weekend, they will head to Elizabethtown, PA for another tournament where they will be tested against UAA rival Carnegie Mellon. If their upperclassmen continue their consistent play and newfound chemistry, be sure that this team will continue to surprise this season.
Powell is a member of the class of 2018.
