Daniel Park
Contributing Writer
The VCU volleyball team wrapped up their weekend with a four-set victory against the visiting Georgetown Hoyas Saturday night.
The win extended the team’s winning streak to five and marked the Rams’ third victory in a span of 24 hours. VCU went 3-0 over the weekend at the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational, taking down Virginia, Appalachian State and the Hoyas. VCU has now won three consecutive tournaments to open the season, having already captured the Ball State
Invitational and the N.C. State Invitational. The team improved its overall record to 9-1 with the successful weekend at the Siegel Center.
As exhausted as they were Saturday night after their fifth consecutive win, the women still made it look effortless with a combination of stubborn defense that consisted of 50 digs, and even harsher offense. The team racked up 60 kills, led by Kristin Boyd and Anett Farkas’ 14 apiece.
Defensively, the passion and intensity of the team spoke for itself; thunderous blocks contributed by their skyscraping towers 6-foot-5 Martina Samadan and 6-foot-4 Jasmine Waters with six each.
When asked how she makes it look so easy, Kristin Boyd answered, “Lots of practice, I know we put in a lot of hours every week all the time and try to be focused all the time.”
Sophomore Amanda Love contributed 12 memorable digs and the captain of the defense barely remembered any of them.
“I remember about two digs,” she said.
Farkas, the tournament’s most valuable player, felt like they could have had the game in three. The Hunagarian player considered her teammates as her second family and said that they get along really well because they’ve rooted their foundation in communication.
As coaches usually advise their players to not play with emotions, coach James Finley has discovered and triggered something special within his team. When asked why he incorporates emotions in the game, he responded,“I’m a really passionate person, and I try not to be but it’s impossible. And out of that my philosophy is about building relationships.”
Regardless of the statistics, the intangibles were obvious as the team chemistry proved his philosophy correct. Finley said if the team can continue to build chemistry through winning games, it will help them when they begin A-10 play on Sept. 21 at Duquesne.
“We’re going to lose a match here and a match there, but it’s our character, how are we going to respond to that?” said Finley. “And that’s the thing I’m most proud of after losing to South Florida is our character has been, we’ve responded and found a way to win and I think if
we continue to build on that as we go and not allow any setbacks to effect the overall goal that we have, which is to win the A-10. That’s our goal.”
VCU volleyball will continue its non-conference tournament play next weekend at the Army Invitational at West Point. The Rams will face Army and Albany in a doubleheader on Friday, before facing Sacred Heart on Sunday in what will be their final match before league play begins.