Volleyball bounces back with renewed sense of unity

September 25th, 2009 | By Darwin Manning | Section: Sports

Claire Reeder '11 passes to Liz Davis '11 during practice on Thursday, September 25. Cait De Mott Grady/The Scarlet and Black

The Grinnell Women’s Volleyball team’s (6-7) continued their season this past weekend with a 2-2 record at the Macalaster Tournament in St. Paul. 

“The success we had at Macalester was driven by good serving and good serve reception,” Head Coach Jackie Hutchison said. “When one looks at the score sheet they may see we had a lot kills but none of it would be possible without the first part.” 

The team has been improving in areas besides their serve reception and serving, including their mental game said Erin Labasan ’11. 

“We used to get down 0-2 in sets and be dead,” Labasan said. “But now we have confidence that we can come back and this past weekend after falling behind two sets to University of Dubuque we made a comeback and actually won.” 

They have shown the tenacity to not only make comebacks but to ultimately put plenty of wins on the record.  Last year, the women finished with a overall record of 7-21 and 2-7 in conference.

“Our ultimate team goal is to play in the conference tournament and only the top four teams do and we are on target for that,” Hutchinson said. “My players are only limited by the limitations they place on themselves.” 

Indeed the positive attitude of the new head coach has been an excellent source of inspiration and confidence for the team as a whole. And as with any team, confidence is usually a recipe for success. 

“When University of Dubuque got in a difficult spot they fell apart and started snapping at each other and getting down,” Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10 said. “We on the other hand said, ‘Ok, we all have each other’s backs. We are going to do this, and we are going to do it together,’ and so we won.” 

The camaraderie extends off the court as well.

“We eat together, we hang out together on the weekends, and the best part is that the whole team has each other’s backs,” Shelby Carroll ’13 said. 

As one of only three first years, Carroll has shown true ease at being a part of it all and this became quite apparent in a match earlier in the season as several players pointed out. 

“Shelby and Michelle broke out into crazy dance-off right in the middle of the Illinois College tournament,” Labasan said.

The strong sense of unity coupled with the confidence in their physical and mental ability has done wonders in supporting the team thus far and should play a large part in helping them continue these straight into Conference.

“Grinnell doesn’t really have a winning tradition as far as volleyball goes and we’re looking to establish that this year and we can absolutely accomplish that,” Labasan said.  

The Women’s Volleyball Team hopes to keep the trend of playing mentally and physically sound as well as with confidence and unity as they go into their second home tournament. This Friday they will play William Penn on Friday at 4 p.m. and Augustana at 8 p.m. Then they will oppose the same two teams the following day with the first match at 11 a.m. versus Augustana and at 3 p.m. against William Penn. The Grinnell Volleyball team hopes that this weekend will be one not to forget and that a large crowd will come out with strong support and be rewarded with excellent play.