Busy week for volleyball yields three losses

By Mike Petty
Collegian Staff
September 27, 2006

So far, this season has been one of obvious improvement and promise for the La Salle volleyball team. The only thing lacking has been match wins. The team understands that you need to crawl before you can walk, but they wouldn’t mind a few wins, especially as they begin Atlantic 10 play. Their final tune-up before A-10 play was Wednesday against city rival Villanova.

Junior Stephanie Owen and sophomore Christa Dominick go for the block against Villanova. - Sara Allen

It was evident early on that this match was going to be an uphill battle as Villanova came out strong, winning 30-20 in Game one.

Game two saw a different Explorer team, and in front of a raucous crowd they fell, 31-29.

La Salle returned the favor by winning the next game, 31-29.

Villanova regrouped and took the match with a 30-21 Game four win. Junior Brittany Hanley led the team with 10 kills and sophomore Christa Dominick followed suit with nine of her own. The senior assist/dig tandem of Caitlin Conner (29 assists, two kills) and Carolyn Judge (14 digs) were at it again.

The Explorers traveled on Thursday to take on the St. Louis Billikens on Friday night just a short walk away from Busch Stadium and the Edward Jones Dome. One of the premiere teams in the A-10, St. Louis showed its muscle by sweeping the match in an eerily consistent way, 30-20, 30-20 and 30-20.

“I thought we outplayed them; we were definitely hitting them hard with multiple shots,” Heavey said.

This was one of those matches in which the score did not tell the whole story. Juniors Erin Sullivan and Stephanie Owen led the team with seven kills apiece in a match where La Salle played well enough to win any of the games. Conner assisted on 24 of the 28 kills in the match, and Judge’s 12 digs continued to add to her nationally ranked stats.

The road trip continued on Sunday when the Explorers flew from St. Louis to Pittsburgh to take on the Duquesne Dukes on a very solemn campus due to the events of this past week.

The first game saw back and forth action throughout, with nine lead changes occuring in all. The Explorers had a 20-15 lead at one point, but a Dukes run got the game even at 21. The teams traded points until the game was even at 27. The Explorers would score just one more point the rest of the game, falling 30-28.

After losing that clearly winnable game, the team dropped the next two games, 30-19 each. Hanley had a team high 10 kills, sophomore Amy McKeon had eight, Sullivan seven and Dominick contributed six kills. Conner (29 assists) and Judge (19 digs) led their respective categories.

The loss dropped La Salle to 6-12 overall and 0-2 in A-10 play. The team returns to action this week with three consecutive home matches. The Explorers will face Delaware State on Tuesday, Rhode Island on Friday and Fordham on Saturday.

pettym1@lasalle.edu