By Natalie Smith
Sports Writer

The sweat dripped down the back of their necks while they desperately took gulps of water in a vain attempt at hydration in the extreme heat of Voelkle Gymnasium. Despite the heat of the gym, the Pomona-Pitzer women’s volleyball team seemed to be coming together. After a dismal 3-20 record last year the lady Hen’s start of 3-5 seems to signal a turnaround.
Led by a core group of seniors, experience not familiar to the volleyball squad, the team played an exciting game against Williams on Saturday. The Sagehens battled back from a 2-8 deficit early in the first game of the match to lead 23-19 as a timeout was called.
The strong spikes by Jessica Rybka ’05 and Vincenta Arrizon ’04 coupled with the set up of Jeannie Kenmotsu ’05 helped the comeback. After the timeout, the women of P-P whittled away at Williams’ lead to win the first game 30-25.
Sadly, the domination did not continue, as the second game saw numerous lead changes between Williams and the Sagehens. Colleen Chrisco ’03 said, “One problem we’re having is keeping the same intensity throughout matches.” Williams eventually took the second game by the narrow margin of 32-30, setting up the third game as a must win for the Sagehens.
The third game did not unfold as P-P had hoped, and the Sagehens never held the lead throughout the entire game. In a scary moment Elizabeth Shatzer ’03 appeared to have tweaked something in her leg and had to sit down. Luckily, the depth of the P-P bench filled the void until she recovered. The strong play by Chrisco and Renee Faulkner ’04 was not enough to overcome Williams’ power, and the Hens fell 30-27.
The Hens’ poor play had taken their home crowd completely out of the game, and as the fourth game began, the silence during the serves was palpable. This lack of noise clearly hurt the Sagehens and they struggled to find a rhythm throughout the entire game. Williams never relinquished control of the momentum and won by the dominating score of 30-17.
Despite narrowly dropping the last match of the tournament to Williams, the Sagehens still put forth a fairly strong showing. The Sagehens convincingly won their first match of the tournament in straight sets 30-26, 30-21, 30-20 over Augsburg and showed the level of play of which they are capable.
With a good nights rest, P-P rebounded with dominating play over Mills, again winning in straight sets 30-14, 30-5, 30-24. According to Chrisco, the volleyball team is “the best I’ve played on in my four years here.” With a player reaching the height of 6 feet considered “the biggest girl on the squad ever” as described by Susan Caplow ’03, the volleyball team’s prospects are looking good. The first SCIAC game is only one week away, so the team must be in top form.
Chrisco believes “with people competing for spots, it’s driving practices to be a lot better.” It seems all the volleyball team needs now is “time to build our confidence” said Caplow, and their season can be quite an improvement over last season. With hopeful, dedicated seniors, tall new players, and hard work, this season for the volleyball team could be prove to be an exciting one.