By Kenny Barto
Homecoming weekend brought in two tough opponents that sat atop of the Northeast Conference standings and both teams proved to be too tough for the Blue Devils volleyball team. Long Island (9-10, 4-1 NEC) and Sacred Heart (13-5, 4-0 NEC) both played outstanding games on CCSU’s home court, beating the Blue Devils in four sets.
“We can’t make unforced errors,” Head Coach Linda Sagnelli said. “When a mistake happens and it starts to snowball, and then you get three mistakes in a row, that’s when a point spread happens, we just can’t do that.”
The weekend doubleheader started with Long Island, a team that had two girls on the attack that had serious power behind their shots. Annika Foit and Hanna Gibeau posted 25 and 21 kills respectively, and gave CCSU fits all game long. Foit earned her third NEC rookie of the week of the year for her performance in both games that the Blackbirds played.
“We knew about her coming in,” Sagnelli said. “We worked and worked in practice to try to get things right defensively for her, but we just struggled from the beginning of the first set.”
Foit got the first three kills in the first set putting the Blue Devils at a 3-1 deficit early. The Blue Devils were able to fight back during the entire set and were able to come within one point at 22-21 late in the set. Long Island fought back, however, and won the set 25-22.
In the second set the Blue Devils trailed by as much as five points. The team was able to fight back and Blaike King got a key kill with the match at 24-23 for Long Island. The kill forced “overtime,” but CCSU eventually fell to the Blackbirds, 29-27.
In set number three, the Blue Devils’ fast start eventually led to forcing a fourth set with LIU. CCSU scored nine straight points against the Blackbirds to take a 9-1 lead early in the set. LIU climbed back in with the score at 11-6, and scored six points in the next seven opportunities. The rest of the set was back and forth, but CCSU was able to hold on 28-26.
LIU dominated much of the fourth set, as CCSU fell 25-20. The Blue Devils had the lowest hitting percentage at .207 at a time that was crucial to force a fifth set.
“We struggled from point one,” Sagnelli said. “Everything was a little off, but we still managed to get this thing to go four [sets]. Long Island played great, and we just couldn’t get into any type of passing rhythm, or defensive rhythm.”
Sunday brought in an even tougher opponent in Sacred Heart. CCSU’s in-state rival had beaten big programs like Rutgers, UConn, Maryland, and Yale. The Pioneers did not disappoint, and simply dominated the first set, beating the Blue Devils 25-16 with an impressive .500 hitting percentage.
“They play a steady game of volleyball,” Sagnelli said. “They have players that can come in and take huge rips at the ball, so our defense had to be ready. It was unfortunate that our middle went down on the first play of the game, Jen [Waddill] stepped on someone’s foot landing from a block, and we lost her for the rest of the match.”
With Waddill returning returning to the bench on crutches for the second set, the Blue Devils adjusted and beat the pioneers 25-22. CCSU’s largest lead was five, and held Sacred Heart to just a .095 hitting percentage.
The next two sets were too tough for CCSU, however, as they were beaten relatively easily, 25-17 and 25-14. The Blue Devils’ hitting percentages were just .121 and .065 respectively. The Blue Devils’ only successive points in both sets was in the third set, when the score went from 3-1 SHU to 4-3 lead by CCSU.
“I thought in transition, we were right there with them,” said Sagnelli. “We just have to work on not giving up sloppy plays with the ball. I think we gave Sacred Heart plays that were [a] lack of communication on our part, and it’s just inexcusable.”
The Blue Devils will hit the road for the first time in their conference schedule this weekend. They will face St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday, followed by the 4-0 Robert Morris team on Sunday.