By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
Friday, September 24 began conference play for Hofstra's volleyball team. Following a much needed win over Fairfield, Hofstra travelled down to Virginia to take on The College of William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University.
"I think we played really well" said head coach Krista Hernandez. "We played really aggressively, but it just came down to William & Mary making some better plays towards the end of the match."
In its first set against William & Mary, the Pride battled hard, but just fell shy of going one up on the Tribe losing 25-21. Hofstra was in good position late in the set after a block from graduate student Marina Markovic and sophomore Carolyn Jenkins to make the score 22-21 in William & Mary's favor. After that block, Hofstra could not take advantage of the momentum and the Tribe scored four straight points to close out the first set 25-21.
In the second set Hofstra started slowly, but then picked it up quickly. The Pride took the lead at 7-6 and never looked back. Going up by as many as seven at one point, Hofstra finished strong on a kill from senior Jenna Connell to win the second set 25-21.
With the match notched at one set a piece, it was anyone's game. Although Hofstra played well, it did not play well enough in Williamsburg. It was William & Mary who finished out the match with back-to-back wins to close it out and earn a victory. With this loss, the Pride dropped to 6-12 and 0-1 in conference play.
Following its match against William & Mary, Hofstra continued with conference play by taking on Virginia Commonwealth University. "We executed really well in the first set," explained Hernandez. The Pride went back and forth with VCU, exchanging leads, but at 15-14 the Pride took the lead and stayed there. Finishing the set on a kill from Markovic, Hofstra won the first set by a score of 25-20.
"The last three [sets], we weren't able to stick to the game plan," Hernandez said. "We weren't serving aggressively and we dug ourselves in a hole and couldn't bounce back from it quickly."
VCU won the next three sets in dominating fashion to bring Hofstra's record to 6-13 and 0-2 in conference. "We need to learn from it" said Hernandez. "We can't be not ready to play in conference because everybody is really good and really competitive."
After the road trip to Virginia, the Pride return to Hempstead to take on two conference opponents; James Madison and George Mason. "We've got to win on Friday," Hernandez said. "I think we match up well with both of these teams this weekend, so if we can bounce back and be 2-0 then we will be in a good place."