Volleyball splits conference matches: loss to Rams
Tevin Baker - Contributing Writer
The Scots came out hot against the Cornell College Rams in the first set. At first, Monmouth stayed in the lead with 12-8, until the Rams made a comeback switching up the lead with 14-16. Monmouth tied the set at 17 from a kill by Layne Wright, giving the Scots a fighting chance in the first set. A kill by Paige Foltz put the Scots back in the lead, but the Rams did not back down. The Rams won the first set 25 – 20.
“Some of the strategies that we had going into this game was identifying their strongest hitters and trying our best to shut them down. We also knew that we were going to have to take big swings in order to score points, so our goal was to just go for it,” said Wright.
The Scots scored two quick points from Chloe Strachan and Kaylee Celus until the Rams took the lead 3–7 at the beginning of set two. In an effort to stop the Rams’ momentum, the Scot’s called their second timeout of the night. Their plan didn’t go the way they hoped as the Rams ran off with the lead, taking the score all the way up to 10-19. The Scot’s earned four points from two kills and two errors from the Rams, bumping the score up to 14-21. After the Rams’ first timeout of the game, they got two consecutive aces against the Scots, earning their second win with a score of 16-25.
With a fast start in the third set, Wright got a kill and served up two aces against the Rams in a 5–0 run. The Rams called a timeout immediately in an attempt to stop the Scots in their tracks. They cut the lead down to 9-5, but the Scots ran up the score 13-6. Paige Bergschneider scored three consecutive points against the Rams pushing the lead to 21-11. The Scots won the third set match with a kill by Wright making the final score of that set 25- 14.
“Our team strives in high pressure situations, so we knew we had to come out and fight in the third set. That is exactly what we did, which led us to the set win. This team is very talented and when we bring the fight, we do some really good things,” said Wright.
The fourth and final set was tied up multiple times, like at 2-2 and 10-10, making the Scots call a timeout at 13-10. After the time out, the Rams took the lead, 12-19, forcing the Scots to call another timeout. The Scots got a couple of kills after the time out to still give them a chance at 22-16. The Ram’s won the fourth and final set match with two consecutive points making the final score 25-16.
Leading with a third of the team’s kills against the Rams, Wright had three ace serves, passing Laura Dulce for 5th place, pushing Wright’s total to 148 aces. Wright has at least 10 kills in 13 matches this season and six in the last eight matches.