After falling short of its goal of an undefeated home schedule this season with a tough loss to George Washington Wednesday, the VCU volleyball team entered the weekend looking to improve its conference record.
“It took us a while to get over Wednesday night because the girls had set themselves a goal of being undefeated at home,” VCU coach James Finley said. “It was really nice for them to come out and fire on all cylinders.”
The Rams played two pivotal conference games over the weekend, the first against UNC Wilmington on Friday and Georgia State Saturday.
VCU would not disappoint its fans, then rolling to 3-0 wins in both games.
On Friday, the Rams rolled out to a 19-10 lead in the first set, and never looked back.
Freshman Michala Kvapilova (Liberec, Czech Republic/Gymnasium Pripotocni) led the Rams with 15 kills, while battling an injured thumb that sent her to the hospital after the game.
The Rams left no doubt in the match, recording their team season-high hitting percentage of 36 percent.
On Saturday, the Rams attack was too much for Georgia State.
Senior Ivana Rich (Cumberland/Cumberland) posted 11 kills and had a hitting percentage of 45 percent to lead the Rams to a second weekend victory.
“Ivana walked up to me before the match, right before they went on the court and said to me, ‘coach … tonight is my night’ … She was amazing tonight,” Finley said.
Redshirt-freshman Kristen Boyd (Wilmington, N.C./Hoggard) and junior Lenka Melicharkova (Zlin, Czech Republic/Arkansas-Little Rock) also had solid nights for the Rams.
Freshmen Marissa Low (Carlsbad, Ca./Carlsbad) and Alyssa Foster (Richmond/Mills Godwin) posted 19 and 14 digs respectively to lead the defense for the black and gold.
With the win, the Rams move into a tie with William & Mary for second place in the CAA. A Friday match up with the Tribe next Friday will determine who takes over the second spot.
But the lay-off between Saturday and next Friday is what the team will look forward to the most after playing three matches in four days.
“It will be good for the girls to get some recovery and we can work on some very specific things so I am really pleased with that,” Finley said.