The Keene State volleyball team beat Western Connecticut State University last Saturday Oct. 11, capturing second place in the LEC.
“This [the win against West. Conn] was huge for the post season,” junior Alexis Michal said, one of the defensive specialists on the team.
“Now we’re three-to-one in conference play with three more conference games to go,” Michal said.
Kyle Bailey / Photo Editor
The team has added onto its overall record in the meantime. On Saturday Oct. 18, while pumpkins were lit and lined down Main St. in Keene, N.H. for visitors to admire not all Owls could be there.
The Owls were at Plymouth State University earning a victory against Mount Holyoke College with a total set score of three-to-zero.
Later that day the team went on to beat Smith College with another shutout three-to-zero. For their last month-and-a-half of the regular season, the team is striving to finish strong.
“I think we just really need to practice hard and keep working,” junior Angela Silveri, an outside hitter on the team, said.
According to Head Coach Bob Weiner, the team is doing more than refining its skills. Weiner said that when playoffs come, they’ll probably be playing some of their divisional foes they’ve already played, like rival UMass Boston. This has pushed the squad to, “Add some new offense and plays to our game plan,” Weiner said.
Weiner continued and said he wants the team to show some things that their divisional opponents won’t recognize from game tape.
The team needs all of its young players to step up and contribute like they’ve done all season.
Nine freshmen is a lot for any sports team, but according to junior Silveri, they’ve been eager to help.
“The dynamic was so much better this year than last year,” Silveri said.
She continued, “They help us a lot and impact the team in a positive way,” referring to the freshmen’s contributions to the squad.
Michal agreed with Silveri’s sentiment, specifying one freshman who has exceeded expectations.
“Rachael Lamica has really stepped it up and taken a bigger role on the court. Her serve has really helped us,” she said.
Coach Weiner said that this has been the plan all season: to get the freshmen prepared for big games and ready to actually play in the future. “Nine of our freshmen get regular playing time. This is important so they have good experience for next year,” Weiner said.
The team looks forward to another conference game on Saturday Oct. 25 against UMass Dartmouth.
With three more divisional games, the girls said they feel confident that they’ve made progress throughout the season.
“I think we’ve come a long way. [We] definitely have made a lot of progress from the beginning, which was kind of rough,” Silveri said.
“We’ve been growing together,” Michal said.
Skyler Frazer can be contacted at sfrazer@keene-equinox.com
