The 2013 Screaming Eagles came in with lofty expectations for the 2013 Volleyball season. A couple of new recruits to bolster the offensive and serve receive facets of the team, veteran leadership from the setter position, an experienced and multi-skilled libero, an improved veteran middle and outside presence to center around the return of the best CSE offensive and blocking player of 2012 along with a slew of new and veteran role players that would add depth and quality to a previously thin team on both counts seemed to signal the beginning of a historic season.
The team opened the campaign with a difficult schedule, opening against New Jersey City and College of Notre Dame. Although the team had recently experienced success against both teams, these opponents have always proven to be exceptionally difficult matches for the Eagles. Two 5 set matches later on opening night, the Eagles had a 1W-1L record and, true to form, could have easily picked up two wins or lost them both as the matches were very close and hard fought.
Culinary and King's College (NY) were the next opponents less than 13 hours later. CSE would be tested as usual by the Steels of Culinary and the Lions of King's College as the Eagles looked to find their legs after 2 marathon matches that ended well after 11pm the previous night. At the conclusion of the 4 match opening weekend, CSE had a 3W-1L record and seemed to have the proof it needed that it was going to be a great year.
John Jay College became the next win for the Eagles as starting setter Amy Cooper set a new school record with 12 aces in a match and helped the team set a school record with 26 total aces in a single match. The Eagles then traveled to Bryn Athyn to take on the home team and Bryn Mawr. The Bryn Mawr match, although a loss, was decided by a mere 7 points over 3 sets and the Eagles took that confidence against an improved Bryn Athyn squad and outlasted the Lions for their 5th win to only 2 losses. The team seemed poised to have a great match against a historically difficult opponent in Montclair State University. However, this was when the unexpected occurred and it turned the season on its head.
Amy Cooper suffered a shoulder injury which prevented her from blocking and serving. This thrust senior Cheyenne Grant into the first starting role of the season and of her career as Grant was forced to take over and run the Eagle offense against MSU. Although the team fought hard in the match and almost took the first set (24-26 loss), the switch in defense and setter were too much to overcome in a short period of time and the Eagles dropped to 5W-3L.
Over the next 11 matches the Eagles went on a dismal 3W-8L run during which CSE lost Grant, their backup setter, for 4 matches, their starting OH/MB Kiana Cunningham for 3 weeks and their other starting OH, Nicole Morera, for just over a week. During this stretch, the team employed 3 different offensive and defensive systems and had 3 different setters. Although the team went through a great deal of adversity, the playing experience earned by the role players on the squad were going to pay off dividends in the next phase of the season. Ayesha Brannon, Natasia Wilson, Amanda Inacio and Taisha Colon took on bigger roles and more responsibility in the team system and their contributions came to the forefront as the Eagles snapped their losing streak in early October to go on a 3 match winning streak versus College of Staten Island, Medgar Evers and College of New Rochelle.
With those 3 wins, the Eagles improved to 11W-14L and finishing the year above .500 was within reach as the team got to mid October and had 4 matches in a week (RU-Newark, Keuka, SUNY-Cobleskill, Cazenovia) that would go a long way in determining how the season would end up.
The week would start off badly as CSE dropped a 3-1 decision to RU-Newark after winning set 1 and leading in all 3 subsequent sets before losing each one late. The team worked hard to fix those errors in the practices leading up to conference weekend #3 and it seemed to pay off early as the Eagles were able to take a lot of positives from a 3-0 loss to Keuka and followed it up with a come from behind 3-2 win versus SUNY Cobleskill after being down 2-0. Conference weekend ended rather well for CSE as the team carried the momentum and confidence earned versus Cobleskill and defeated Cazenovia 3-1 in a tough fought close match. The two wins kept hope alive for a .500 record or better as the team was 13W-16L with 4 matches to go.
John Jay College was next on the schedule on Dig Pink night. Much like the early part of October where the Eagles opened 0W-5L, CSE couldn't seem to do anything right early on and trailed 14-4 in the first set before showing signs of coming alive. Much like the match versus Rutgers, CSE dominated late and actually took the lead 24-23 but succumbed 26-24 in the end as key errors cost the Eagles late in the set. But the Eagles rallied, as they have done since conference weekend, and dominated the Bloodhounds in the next 3 sets and won the match for their 14th win.
With 3 matches left in the 2013 season, the Eagles find themselves 2 games under .500 (14W-16L) and in the midst of a 6W-2L streak. Subhana Wrights has been dominant in this streak and the offense has been very efficient behind the leadership, emotion and play of Cheyenne Grant who has grown more comfortable in her role as starting setter. Ireyah Stevens has been a major defensive and offensive force and the freshman duo of Nicole Morera and Kiana Cunningham has been lethal at key points in this stretch. Kareemah Muhammad, Taisha Colon, Amanda Inacio, Natasia Wilson and Ayesha Brannon have steadied a serving attack and have made key defensive contributions to lead the Eagles in this streak. The passing and defensive game of the Eagles has been nearly flawless as Katie Cooper has been stellar as the libero.
The Eagles will have to run out the string of 3 matches if the squad hopes to finish .500 or above for the 3rd consecutive year and, should CSE accomplish that, the team would finish out the season on a 9W-2L run that would mirror the 10W-3L run the team went on at the end of their historic 22W-7L season in 2012.
Follow the Eagles on this blog and on http://cse.edu/volleyball -where home matches are live-streamed- as the Eagles close out the 2013 season over the next week (10/30 v. SUNY Maritime, 11/3 at Yeshiva versus York and Yeshiva, 1 and 3pm).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment