Volleyball comes up short in pivotal CAA match

The cold temperatures and rain outside VCU’s Verizon Wireless Arena Friday night couldn’t slow down the fast-paced action on the court inside.

The VCU women’s volleyball team got off to a hot start as they battled William & Mary for sole possession of second place in the conference.

Ram’s players capitalized on several Tribe miscues and created some clever plays of their own to win the first set unchallenged (25-14).

William & Mary stormed back in the second set however, and went on to win a tightly contested match in five sets, 3-2 (14-25, 25-23, 25-21, 26-28, 15-13), balancing out their Sept. 26 loss to the Rams in Williamsburg.

“There was a lot on the line tonight and it really put us in a hole in conference,” said VCU head coach James Finley. “William & Mary came to play. They played a great game, had a good game plan, and executed more frequently than we did in crunch time. That was the difference in the match.”

The Tribe’s Lindsay Kresch played a great all around game, contributing 15 kills, 15 digs, three blocks and six of the team’s 13 aces.

VCU’s defensive performance and the play of their middles were impressive; however, passing breakdowns prevented the team from taking advantage of the strong effort.

“The one thing that we’ve just gotten better and better at as the season goes on is defense,” Finley said. “We had 109 digs tonight and our freshman libero was amazing with 31 digs; she really kept us in a lot of long rallies.”

That libero, Marisa Low (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad), was all over the court as she dug out powerful spikes and sacrificed her body to get an arm or hand between the ball and the floor.

“Ever since I was young . I just never let the ball drop and go for everything. That’s my attitude,” Low said.

Another freshman, outside hitter Michala Kvapilova (Liberec, Czech Republic), continued her string of impressive individual performances against the Tribe with 17 kills, 14 digs and a .280 hitting percentage, making a strong case for her third consecutive Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week honor.

“I think we have a great will to fight. We’re fighters, and that’s one thing I think is going to help us for the rest of the season,” said senior middle blocker Ivana Rich (Cumberland,Va./Cumberland). “We have a team that believes we can win, and is going to do whatever it takes to win. Sometimes we may fall short, but it’s going to make us better.”

The Rams play Hofstra University at home on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.