Women's Volleyball Narrowly Defeated in Three Conference Games, Losses Drop Hens to 1-4 in SCIAC
By Drew Perraut
Sports Writer

The volleyball team's usual busy schedule was filled this week, with matches against La Verne on Friday, Occidental on Saturday, and Redlands on Tuesday. The team has had a difficult run lately. With an overall record of 4-12 thus far, the Hens have lost nearly all their games by only slim margins, and, unfortunately, this week was no exception.

The match against La Verne was fairly typical of recent performance. The match lasted only three games, but each was a hard-fought battle. The final scores were 27-30, 23-30 and 25-30. These were certainly not blowouts; the Hens simply fell just short in each case. Coach Valerie Cowan had "mixed impressions," saying that P-P was "competing very well with them…but our attack could have been stronger."

The next day, the Lady Hens traveled to Occidental College, traditionally a difficult team to play against, for an away match. The Sagehens again lost after only three games, with scores of 19-30, 24-30, and 27-30. The offense rallied for the final game, closing the score, but it proved to be too late. Cowan admitted that P-P "definitely struggled against [Occidental]. Our passing and defense weren't nearly as consistent, and Oxy…hit well against us. What we need is for someone to just put the ball away."

The third and final match of the week came Tuesday night against the University of Redlands. Though the match drew comparatively few spectators, P-P played one of their best games in recent weeks. The Sagehens lost the first game by only two points, 28-30, but they quickly retaliated, with decisive wins in the next two games, which they won 30-13 and 30-19, respectively. Unfortunately, the Redlands team pulled itself together, winning game four 19-13.

The determining fifth game of the match was amazingly well-played by both sides. The P-P defense tested its mettle against the Redlands offense and proved its worth. The low-scoring game ended with the Hens just short of a win, 10-15. Katherine Hopkins '06 and Colleen Chrisco '03 both played very strongly throughout the match. Both women made excellent saves and were able to send the ball crashing back onto the Bulldogs side of the net.

During some games, the team's offense plays very strongly, sending spikes crashing down on their opponents, but the defense fails to provide cover. In other cases, the reverse is true. The Lady Hens' primary difficulty is coordination of the offensive and defensive.

Though P-P still has ten matches left in the season, the team is already weighing their options for play-offs. "With the right mental attitude and execution, we can beat just about any conference team," Cowan says. For now the players will focus on refining their techniques and hope to "turn the tables on those teams that we just didn't finish off." The Hens will face off against Cal Lutheran on Friday. Following that, they play Alliant International University at home on Saturday.