On the surface, it looks like the women's volleyball team had an unsuccessful season.
But saddled with a 2-13 record after their losses to Harvard and Yale at the Ivy League tournament this past weekend and a winless record in Ivy League competition, the team has managed to maintain not only their competitive attitude but has struggled through a seemingly endless stream of difficulties.
The season's high point came when the team traveled to St. Michael's to compete in a tournament. The Big Green emerged with not only a victory but a first-place finish, ending their winless streak by defeating St. Michael's, Stoneyhill and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
"At the St. Michael's tournament, the main reason we won was teamwork," Co-captain Jennifer Hall '94 said. Also, our attitude and mental game were at their peaks. Volleyball is a mental game and you're going to beat out the other team by having your head together."
"We cut down on our mental errors," Amanda Wayne '96 added. "All of our passing and hitting were really on that weekend."
Unfortunately, the team was without a full-time coach for almost the entire season. Hall was quick to praise interim coach Jennifer Frank and assistant Kim Goodwin's efforts, but said that lack of stability contributed to the Big Green's erratic play.
"Without a coach," Kai Enos '96 said, "everything is hectic and disorganized and the team obviously can't play up to its potential."
In the absence of a permanent coach, Hall and Co-Captain Michelle Moore '94 stepped up to fill the vacancy. Their efforts were met with unilateral support from the players.
"Jenny Hall and Michelle Moore were really dedicated and work really hard to keep the team together," Enos said. "Most importantly, the team was able to maintain its competitive spirit throughout the season, despite disappointing results."
Wayne echoed Enos' sentiment and said that "our seniors provided some key leadership during the strained moments."
As the team looks to the future, they see both room for improvement and the talent ready to lift them to a possible winning season.
"Next year will be much better," Wayne said. "Hopefully we'll have more consistency in the coaching and we have a strong core of returning players."
"Freshman Carmen Schmitt was a big asset to our team," Moore said, "and she'll assume a large role next season. Our middle hitters played very well and in the past we've been known as an outside hitting team but we're sort in a transitional stage."
"We have a lot of promising freshmen who, with a little more experience and match-play, will be valuable assets to the program," Enos said. With a little more hard work, hopefully we can make significant improvements."
Hall added that this year's newcomers "brought a lot of stability and depth. They had really good attitudes and were aggressive. They may not have played as much, but they definitely pushed us to do our best. While it's really hard to say how the team will do in the future, I have a lot of confidence in the talent that's still there."
