By Eric Botti
Elm Staff Writer
The Washington College volleyball team had games on Wednesday and Saturday this past week, where they played at Catholic University and at Gettysburg College.
The Shorewomen lost their match against Catholic 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22) and their match against Gettysburg 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 18-25, 25-13).
On Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the first set, Catholic led 23-18 after an attack error by the Shorewomen. The Shorewomen were able to trim this to a 24-22 lead thanks to a kill by sophomore Abby Smith before losing on a service error.
The second set was tied 20-20 before Catholic earned the next three points on a kill. The Shorewomen, however, trimmed the lead back to 23-22 on a service ace by junior Cassie Kowalski.
The Shorewomen lost this set after the Cardinals won their final two points on a ball handling error.
In their final set of the match, the Shorewomen were able to score the first six points with Smith scoring the last point on a kill. The Cardinals bounced back, scoring 20 of the next 28 points to lead 20-14 on an attack error by the Shorewomen.
While at 24-19, the Shorewomen boosted their score to 24-22 after an attack miscue by Catholic. The Cardinals however made their final point on a ball handing error to close out the match.
“We knew going into Wednesday’s game at Catholic that we were really going to have to fight for every point in the match if we wanted to win,” Kowalski said. “Catholic took Gettysburg to five games just the week before, so we knew what we were in for. Although we didn’t come out with a win at Catholic, the technical things we worked on in practice definitely transitioned to game play.”
Saturday’s game, versus Gettysburg, was another rough fight for the Shorewomen.
“We went in knowing that we had to work hard and do a lot of things right to get a win,” senior Kaitlyn Marino said.
In the first set, WC held a 14-12 lead thanks to a kill by sophomore Isabella Sanselli, but were unable to keep it after and the Bullets were able to sneak a nine-point win.
The second set of the match was lost 25-22 after trimming the lead to 24-22.
The Shorewomen won the third set with a seven-point win. They got a 17-11 finished with a kill by senior Lizzie Baden.
Despite this, the Shorewomen were unable to clinch their fourth set and lost the match 3-1 to the Bullets.
The Shorewomen had some peak performers, including freshman Lauren Zedlar, who had 13 assists and three aces. Marino had 11 digs, and Sansanelli had the match-high of five blocks.
“Moving forward, we need to work on consistently playing at a high level. We are very capable of it, but the scores don’t show it,” Marino said. “Our team is working hard every day in the gym with the goal of making playoffs come November.”
The team is now 4-7, and they will play four games this week. On Sept. 22, the Shorewomen will take on Lycoming University and Stevenson University, both played away at Stevenson’s campus in Pikesville.