Success follows volleyball

The Marlins Volleyball Team played against Emory & Henry College and Washington & Lee University Sept. 18. The Marlins beat Emory & Henry College 3-0 and lost to Washington and Lee 3-0.

The Marlins swept the Wasps with three straight wins. The scores for the games were 30-20, 30-28, and 30-26.

"We didn't have focus at all, we played at their level, which is lower than ours," says sophomore Ashley Halicki. “It was close, but it should have been 30-0 for all three of the games."

Later that day the Marlins played the Generals of Washington and Lee. The Generals swept the Marlins 3-0. The match was not dominated by just a single team. Both the Marlins and Generals shared control of the match.

"Against Washington and Lee, we needed to keep our focus and intensity at a high level for the entire match," says head coach Anna Tool.

The Marlins did not keep their intensity which led to three very close games. The scores for the games against Washington and Lee were 30-27, 30-25 and 30-21.

"Washington and Lee is a more experienced team but I felt we did not play up to our potential throughout the match," said Tool. “Washington and Lee is the Three-time defending ODAC champions and returned five of six starters from last year's team. They have a successful tradition and will always be a challenge for us.”

"We were up a portion of the game, then we had a losing streak,” said sophomore Candice Doloresco. “We had a lot of un-forced errors.”

Sophomore Erica Ludolph had 20 assists in the game against Washington and Lee.

"I did well because the hitters did well," said Ludolph.

The Marlins played the Panthers from Ferrum College Sept. 21.

"We worked on our main weaknesses from the weekend in preparation for Ferrum-- ball control and blocking," said Tool.

The Panthers beat the Marlins in the first game 30-21.

"Another loss due to un-forced errors," said Doloresco.

The Marlins moved on and won the next three games against the Panthers.

"Our defense was gone that game," said Doloresco.

The scores for the three games they won were 31-29, 30-24, and 30-12.

"We pulled though and came out with a 3-1 victory," said Doloresco.

The Marlins set new record with the most aces in a single match; they had 24 aces in the match against the Panthers.

On Sept. 25, the Marlins hosted the Guilford Quakers.

“I expected our match against Guilford to be competitive, but I knew we had more depth and could control the outcome,” said Tool. “The match was ours to win as long as we took care of the fundamentals-- strong serving and ball control. When we control the ball, our offense usually takes care of itself.”

The Quakers beat the Marlins 30-28 in the first game.

“Communication on the court was a reason we lost the first game,” said Halicki.

“We didn’t communicate the whole game,” said sophomore Jen Perkinson. “We should have won games.”

Perkinson had a good kill and helped lead the Marlins to a 30-25 victory in the second game.

"After the first game we decided we had to do better and we communicated a little bit better,” said Perkinson.

“The team always has the goal to win the match-- we did not start out aggressively or with intensity like I expected us to,” said Tool. We made too many unforced errors during the first two games but finally started playing stronger in games three and four. The players were determined to find a way to win, even if it wasn’t going to be easy. Guilford was a scrappy team and we never really found our rhythm.

The scores for the three games against Guilford were 28-25, 30-21, and 30-19.

“We need to learn from our struggles during the last few matches and build on our current strengths,” said Tool. “I expect us to compete at a higher level on a consistent basis the rest of the season. We need to be prepared, mentally and physically, for each match and approach every opponent with intensity and fire.”

The Marlins still have half of the season to compete on a high level.

"My focus for the rest of the season is not on the wins and losses,” said Tool. “It’s on playing to our potential every time we step on the floor. We play to our potential on a consistent basis, and then the wins will come with that.”