Volleyball starts the season off with bang

The Virginia Wesleyan Volleyball team has started off its 2004 campaign with a 7-1 record. The Marlins started its season with a 3-1 win over North Carolina Wesleyan College on Sept. 1. Sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Perkinson set two match records with 21 kills and 74 total attacks. The team collectively set two match records with 65 kills and 58 set assists, in which senior Robin Smith led the team with 48 set assists.

On September 3 and 4, the Marlins hosted The Blue Marlin La Quinta Invitational Tournament. The team played four games and finished with an overall record of 3-1.

“I think it was a great start for the season,” said sophomore Erika Ludolph.

First-year head coach Anna Tool is proud of the effort from her young team and feels the Marlins did well during the tournament.

While Tool feels that her team’s strength is versatility, she also recognizes that the team lacks overall depth.

“Our biggest weakness is depth because we are a young team,” said Tool, “but we have some young players making big contributions to the team.”

The Marlins opened the tournament against Messiah College. The Marlins dominated the first and second games against Messiah. However, Messiah came back to win the third and fourth games.

The Marlins quickly recovered and dominated the fifth game, which led to a 3-2 Marlin victory. The Marlins later faced Ferrum College and won the match 3-0.

“We took care of what we needed to do to win games quickly,” said Tool.

“I personally could have played better, but I busted my butt in the games,” said sophomore Candice Doloresco.

On Sept. 4, the Marlins finished the tournament with matches against Marymount University and Virginia State University.

In its first game, the Marlins lost to Marymount University.

“They were really good, but we could have beaten them,” said Doloresco. “We weren’t ready to play, and they were our competition in the tournament.”

“We lost our focus against Marymount College,” said sophomore Ashley Halicki.

Even though the Marlins lost their first match of the tournament, they were able to bounce back and defeat Virginia State University 3-0.

Despite going 3-1 in the tournament, the team still feels it could have done better.

“All around, we could have done better, but it was our first tournament and we made mental errors,” said Halicki. “We are fixing those mental errors in practice.”

The Marlins returned to action on Saturday, Sept. 11 when they traveled to Maryland to face Hood College and St. Mary’s College.The Marlins swept both mathces winning three games to none.

The Marlins get conference action underway on when they host Emory & Henry College and Washington & Lee University at 1:30 and 4:00 p.m., respectively.