MCVB Splits First Conference Weekend

Our first Conference weekend was home this year, which was very nice.  We opened once again with a marathon match with Amherst, much as we did last year, but this time we came up on the short end of the 5 set duel. 

After not playing with our freshmen our opening weekend, we had a mid-week match at Plymouth State where many of the Rookies got to test the college waters, so to speak.  That match was a success all around, and we could start to see a lineup unfolding for the first NESCAC weekend. 

The Amherst match was a great test, and a tough one to start out with, but all in all, it was a good thermometer for us.  In almost every positive category we had a slight edge (more kills/assists, aces, digs, and tied for total blocks)...but in almost every negative category, we also held the edge (attack errors, serving errors, blocking errors, and ball handling errors.)  Our receive was very good at times, but we still need to keep working on being aggressive and smart with our out of system balls.  It's always tough to lose a 5 set match, but I felt like we fought the whole time, and were right in it the whole way.

Isabel and Sarah continue to lead our offensive efforts, and first year's Corley and Maggie jumped on the scene by putting up some big numbers early--Corley led all attackers for both teams with 17 kills in her NESCAC debut, which was exciting, and Maggie wasn't far behind with 13.  Gigi is anchoring our defense once again, and aided by our very own Claire, who we're thrilled came back to us after being abroad last Fall!

We also had an alum from '06 back to visit with her husband to show him a VT Fall weekend and they were excited to catch our game!  It was fabulous to see Georgia again, and we had fun reminiscing and we realized that she was here when my now 13 year old son was born!  Yikes!  Always fun to reconnect with MCVB alums, and she was excited to see the team play!!

Saturday's match featured an improved Trinity squad who came out strong and took a very close, extra point first set 28-26.  After that we seemed to find our stride, and our defense started to gobble up some balls that had dropped in the first set and our attackers found the gaps in their defense and we overpowered them for the win. 

All in all, it was a very good opening weekend, and we're all pretty excited about the group we have this year and what we can accomplish together!  We've had all week to work hard and prepare for our upcoming tri-match at Ramapo where we'll play the host Ramapo on Saturday morning after playing NYU on Friday night.  We're excited about the road trip and another chance for us to grow as a team and test our abilities and teamwork!