Pilot Volleyball starts strong despite the struggles of a fifteen game road streak
(Scott Chia -- The Beacon)
By PJ Marcello, Staff Writer -- marcello13@up.edu
The year's toughest opponent for the Pilot volleyball team may be the freeway. This year, the Pilots play 15 straight games on the road.
The team, who began the season on Aug. 27, will play an entire month of away games before returning to play on its home court. Much of this scheduling is due to the fact that the team started the season playing in four tournaments from Corvallis, Ore., to Laramie, Wyo.
"Usually we would schedule a home tournament towards the beginning of the season," Head Coach Joe Houck said. "This year we were offered to play in some other great tournaments against some good teams that we just couldn't pass up."
The team is starting out the season with a 4-2 record as well as a three game winning streak.
Most recently they won the Spring Hill Suites Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan., lead by the performance of junior Kati Hronek who was named WCC co-player of the week along with Pepperdine's Victoria Adelhelm.
The difference between this year's team and last year's team is the ability to finish close games.
"The most telling stat is that last year we lost 35 sets of three points or less. This year we have won five sets in a row of three points or less,"
Houck said. Houck is pleased with the team's start and thinks that the team could continue the success.
"There doesn't appear to be a team that we can't compete with," Houck said. "We just have to continue to believe that and we will have a good season."
In the Pilots' first tournament of the year, the Corvallis Invitational, the women did not come away with the tournament win; however, they did defeat in-state-competitor Oregon State in the tourney opener.
In the latest tournament the Pilots traveled to, the Shocker Classic, the Pilots swept all three games including a win over home team Wichita State in order to win the tournament.
The Pilots still have much of last year's team after graduating three seniors: Shelley Sievers, Maria Clemens and Kaylyn Jones.
With only one senior and two juniors on the roster, the Pilots are playing well with a very young team and a promising future.
"Having such a young team makes it exciting to see where we can go," junior Marissa Plummer said. "We have the ability to surprise a lot of teams."
The team's next set of games begins Sept. 10 in the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic against Wyoming.
Following the tournament the Pilots will travel to Eugene to battle the University of Oregon before once again heading out of state for the UC Davis Aggie Invitational in Davis, Calif.
After the Aggie Invitational, the team goes on the road once more to take on Seattle University in Seattle before finally coming home to play Trinity Western on Sept. 28.
