Women’s volleyball look to attack A-10 postseason
VCU players huddle during a game against the University of Dayton on Oct. 14. Photo by Alessandro Latour
Thailon Wilson, Staff Writer
VCU women’s volleyball is the sixth and final guaranteed playoff seed in the Atlantic 10 conference.
The team’s recent win at Duquesne University gave the black and gold an even conference record of eight wins and eight losses, locking them a spot for the Atlantic 10 playoffs.
Throughout the season, senior outside hitter Qairo Bentley has led the team in kills and points helping a numerous amount of times to secure sets for the Rams, according to VCU Athletics.
Bentley has won two A-10 conference player of the week awards and she is third in the entire A-10 in points scored and kills, according to the A-10.
Getting honors was one of her personal goals alongside working hard with the team, Bentley said
“One of my personal goals was to earn like an A-10 weekly honors, which I achieved,” Bentley said. “Then my only other team goal was for everyone to enjoy themselves and come out of a different type of culture and adapt to the change.”
In a similar suit, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Knight has had an impactful sophomore campaign so far as she is second in points scored for the team, according to VCU Athletics.
Knight said she is happy her and Bentley can provide for the team in key situations that the team sets up for them.
“It’s really good that our team can count on us and like hard situations and good situations. I’m really grateful for my teammates to be there for me to help me,” Knight said.
The Rams have an even record within the conference but they also currently have an overall record of 13 wins and 15 losses.
Bentley said she is happy with how the season has been going. She sees an upward trend in the team’s play.
“We’re trending upwards on skills and performance wise, and I think our record doesn’t show how hard you’ve been working in the gym week after week,” Bentley said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity to go through this semester with team members injury, stuff like that.”
The Rams have gone through some changes, including the resignation of former head coach Jody Rogers. Former assistant coach Kevin Maureen Campbell is serving as head coach, according to VCU Athletics.
Campbell said she knew coming in that coaching was going to take a lot of work but she is thankful for the amount of effort the team has put in.
“They give me and our staff a lot of energy, and they want to be great. So we have a great group of young women,” Campbell said. “We’re very lucky.”
The Rams will be hosting their final weekend rally here at the Siegel Center on Nov. 12 and 13 against George Washington University. VCU already has a guaranteed spot in the A-10 playoffs, but the team could potentially move up to the fifth seed after the GWU two-game weekend matchup.
Campbell said the team looks to work for a potential spot in the NCAA tournament while at the A-10 tournament.
“After GWU, we’ll go to A-10 tournaments, and at that point, everybody there’s record is zero. We can then work our way into a NCAA berth,” Campbell said.
