Ave Maria - Boxscore
Asbury - Boxscore
CLEARWATER, FL – When you’re coming off a school record 30-win season, expectations can be great. Just ask the Crimson Eagle women’s volleyball team.
After taking the program’s fist NEAC title and earning the school’s first berth in an NCAA III National tournament a year ago, the women’s volleyball squad entered the current season with justified high hopes.
The only problem is that the ’08 version is different from the ‘07 version – not necessarily worse – just somewhat younger. While last year’s team had the veteran experience of four seniors, this year’s squad has just one four-year player on its roster.
So to expect the reasonably inexperienced Crimson Eagle team to pump out wins in the same type of fashion as a year ago is probably slightly unfair, to say the least. But, nonetheless, that doesn’t make Saturday’s events any easier to swallow.
The Crimson Eagles lost back-to-back contests in the second day of Clearwater Christian College’s kick-off tournament, falling by similar 3-1 scores to both Ave Maria University and Asbury College. While PBU never held a distinct advantage in either match, it’s not to say they didn’t have their chances.
“We came out a little flat in our first contest,” head coach Julie Brubaker commented. “We just struggled to put any type of momentum together. Give credit to Ave Maria, they proved to be the better team this afternoon.”
PBU made several late-match rallies against Ave Maria, trying to overcome a somewhat lackluster opening performance. But it wasn’t to be as the Crimson Eagles eventually fell to the Lady Gyrenes by scores of 27-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19. Sophomore Carly Plank highlighted the Crimson Eagle stat-line with 14 digs and 12 kills. Becky Williams added 12 kills, nine digs, and an ace while Betsy Ranck chipped in with 28 assists.
Game two was much of the same story as Asbury College dominated all but the second set, securing the victory with wins of 25-17, 17-25, 25-14, 25-14. Freshman Rebekah Morrison ended the contest with eight kills, five digs, and two aces while Williams added 15 digs and six kills.
“We picked things up in our second match of the day,” said Brubaker. “I was definitely more pleased with our performance against Asbury – they were just a really strong team all around.”
“We’re already showing signs of improvement, and I’m excited because our young crew is really coming along,” continued Brubaker. “Thankfully it’s still early in the year. I’m confident we’ll keep progressing.”
With their trip to the Sunshine State complete, the volleyball team will return to Langhorne next Saturday to compete in their first home contest of the year, with play beginning at 8:30 a.m.
