Despite falling to Delaware, senior libero and team captain Griselle Lopez Pereira (Caguas, Puerto Rico) broke VCU’s all-time dig record Saturday when she reached 1,741 career digs early in the first game.
The Rams dropped to 6-7 on the year after a close match, losing 3-2. After pushing the Blue Hens to a fifth game, VCU was unable to seal the victory, losing 15-10 in the final game.
Beginning the night three shy of Cindy O’Brian’s record set in 1996, Lopez Pereira recorded 23 digs against the Yale to secure her place in the university’s history book.
Lopez Pereira was recognized for her success after the first game was completed. She said she felt honored, but her focus for the night was on winning.
“I’m really proud and grateful for recognition,” she said. “I understand it’s a great accomplishment, but I still want to win. The numbers don’t really matter unless you win.”
After the game, head coach James Finley said that Lopez Pereira was deserving of the record.
“It’s always a great honor when a player is successful, and Griselle plays hard and works hard,” he said. “She’s a good leader, and she does a lot of good things and it’s nice when somebody gets recognized for that.”
Lopez Pereira’s success, however, was overshadowed by the team’s loss. After falling to Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse Towson 3-0 Friday night, the loss to Delaware made it four in a row and six out of the past seven for the Rams.
The Rams have yet to win in the CAA this season after three conference matches. Finley said he thought Delaware should have been the team to beat.
“It should have been tonight,” he said. “We matched up well and we had plenty of opportunities to win it, but it went their way.”
The Rams started off strong winning the first game 31-29 after trailing early, but were unable to carry over their success into the second game. VCU struggled defensively and lost 30-23.
Delaware led slightly throughout the third game and held on to win 30-27 and put them up 2-1 in the match.
A combination of tenacious defense and a strong offensive play by junior outside hitter Ludmila Francescatto (Fraiburga, Brazil), who registered 19 kills in the match, allowed the Rams to win 30-25 and force the tiebreaker.
Finley said one of the things contributing to the string of losses is a failure to beat a team despite leading the majority of the time.
“We’re still just not finishing anybody,” he said, “and game four when we had a big lead … we let them come back. That gave them a lot of momentum for the tiebreaker.”
The Rams hope to improve their conference record when they travel to New York to play opponent Hofstra Friday, Sept. 23.