In Little East Conference action last Wednesday, at The University of Southern Maine’s Hill Gymnasium, the women’s volleyball team challenged the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (UMD) to a competition that took a full five sets to decide. USM took the final set, taking the 3-2 win. With the win, the Huskies overall season record improves to 8-5.
The match remained undecided deep into the fifth set. The score was tied at eight before USM took three straight to shift the score to 11-8. Umass Dartmouth retaliated with two points before USM went on to take the set 15-10, and win the match.
Husky team Captain, junior Mandy Dessert (Bridgewater, N.H.) led the team with 34 assists, while junior Meg Bristol (Fairfield, Conn.) contributed 26 digs. Senior Cat Lewis (New Gloucester, ME) racked up 15 kills and 24 digs, while freshman Meg Splaine (Warwick, R.I.) added 13 kills.
“We seem to have a much stronger team this year,” said Dessert, “there have been strong freshman who have come up for the season, a lot of good newcomers. The team has been bonding a lot more this year; we have a lot of good talent.” Dessert noted that she and her teammates have high hopes for the rest of the season. Their goals include qualifying for the Little East Conference tournament. “We are going to do well this season,” Dessert added, “and have a chance in the Little East Conference which has lots of good competition.”
The Huskies began the season by winning their first five games. After the quick start, the Huskies slipped to 5-4 with four straight losses. With the recent run of three wins to one loss, the team appears to have regained the competitive form that they hope will take them deep into the Little East Conference Tournament.
Huskies head coach, John Razsa said, “We have a winning record, there is no reason why we can’t improve on an 8-5.” Razsa added that he is confident his team can succeed in the postseason. “The goal of every season is to win the first round of the Little East Conference. “Our offense is more varied [this season], with multiple options to change their attack route. The defense’s goal is to play a relentless pursuit, to get to the ball without letting it hit the ground. It is a wonderful and fantastically positive time working with the players, and I’m enjoying it a lot.”
Razsa seems confident in his team’s ability to bond together and build on its early season success. The recent win over Umass Dartmouth was the first Little East victory for the Huskies, who are eager to rack up more conference wins and improve their place in the standings and advance in the Little East Conference tournament which takes place the first two weeks of November.
Joe Pierce can be contacted at [email protected].