After a bumpy start to the season, the University of Dallas Volleyball team quickly picked themselves back up and are making great strides towards success.
They kicked off the season on Friday, August 30 in California playing Pomona-Pitzer College and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College. The first two matches ended with a 0-3 loss, and the same trend continued the next day as they faced Kean University and Occidental College with a 0-3 and 1-3 loss, respectively, according to the UD Athletics.
Although their first tournament left them feeling discouraged, they were determined to make a comeback, according to sophomore middle blocker Anna Stevenson
This past weekend, on September 6th and 7th, the team played East Texas Baptist University, Belhaven University, Huntingdon College, and Central Baptist College at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. The outcome of this tournament was much more positive; the team won three out of four games, the final scores being 3-1, 3-2, 3-2, and 1-3, respectively, according to the University of Dallas Athletics.
For their first game on Friday, despite insolation from the ceiling raining down upon them and causing a time-out, the defense stepped up and got a total of 70 digs against Belhaven. For the second game, the team did even better, earning 102 digs against East Texas. Again in their second game, sophomore middle-blocker Dayjah White scored six out of the ten blocks against East Texas.
According to Coach Kelli Trautmann, setters senior Stephanie Janysek and freshman Larissa Ramirez, senior libero Krystyn Pua, and hitters Ellise Anable and Abby Porras, both sophomores, are just a few of the promising athletes on this year’s team.
“The team is looking really good and there’s so much talent this year. We have a lot of goals in mind and we are very eager to start conference games,” Anable said.
“The teams we’ve played thus far are helping us prepare for our competitive conference,” said Trautmann.
Their next match will be taking place on Friday, September 13 against Millsaps College and McMurray University here at UD, and their first conference game will be taking place on Tuesday, September 17 against Austin College at Austin College.
“Our goals for this season are to be successful in conference and make the conference tournament, ranking higher than last year!” Porras said, thinking about the season ahead.
“I’m hoping that having a year of experience under our belts, we will be better prepared to rank higher in our conference,” said Stevenson.
With their strength, teamwork, talent and determination, the UD Volleyball girls are bound to have an amazing season. So far, things are looking good.
“I can’t wait to see where our hard work and determination take us,” Anable said.
