Volleyball makes strides despite 1-3 season start

Lady Colonel's volleyball didn't have the winning weekend they had hoped for, but they did make strides toward gaining confidence for the upcoming conference schedule.

Eastern finished 1-3 at the Pitt Panther Invitational Tournament in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The team began the tournament Friday against Howard University, defeating the Bison 3-1 behind solid scoring and a nearly error-free gameEastern only committed four errors. Freshman Hannah Burkle had 17 kills and only two errors in 25 attacks with six blocks. Sophomore Ashley Edmond followed up with nine kills and 14 digs. Freshman Abby Cvelbar also made her presence known with 34 assists in her collegiate debut.

In the nightcap, the Colonels were defeated 3-0 by host Pittsburgh. Freshman Dena Ott led the scoring in this game with 12 digs. Edmond had eight kills to go with nine digs.

The Colonels lost to the University of Rhode Island in their first game Saturday, 3-0. Sophomore transfer Kelsey Kuehner made her Eastern debut with 14 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Robyn Hench also added to the scoring with 11 kills. Freshman Alexis Plagens had 10 kills. Freshman Dena Ott led the team with 26 digs. In addition, freshman Abby Cvelbar had a team-high of 40 assists.

Head Coach Lori Duncan said the team took some positives away from the weekend in spite of the losses.

"All of our freshmen showed great potential," Duncan said.

She added that the freshmen on the teams they competed against weren't as young as the Colonels.

"There were times during the tournament that I looked out on the floor and our team was composed of five freshmen and Kelsey [Kuehner]," Duncan said.

In addition, Duncan said even the freshmen on the other teams went to camp and trained instead of taking the summer off.

"Our team is very inexperienced and wasn't ready to face teams who were that much more advanced," she said.

In addition to youth and inexperience, the Colonels, especially in Saturday's game, had fatigue working against them. They didn't get off the floor from playing URI until 5:30 p.m., and then had to turn around and play Duquesne at 7.

Duncan said she believed nervousness from the freshman players may have been a factor.

"The freshmen put so much pressure on themselves to make a good impression on us as coaches," she said. "What they don't realize is they have already made an impression or we wouldn't have recruited them to come here."

Passing, serving and blocking are three of the main fundamentals Coach Duncan said she will stress this week during practice.

Duncan also added that the Colonels didn't match the intensity of the other teams when it came to serving, saying the team had 17 service errors in five games.

"The team lacked consistent focus, but that is another growing pain of being a young team," she said.

Edmond said communication on the court was one of the problem areas from the weekend.

"Our communication on the court was not as clear as it should have been," Edmond said.

Edmond also echoed the need to work on passing, serving and blocking.

Kelsey Kuehner said she felt she was home again in this weekend's tournament.

"It was good to be back with someone [Assistant Coach Liz Seller] whose coaching style I'm used to," Kuehner said.

Building confidence in the team, especially the freshmen, will be the main assignment for the coaching staff over the next two weekends, Duncan said.

This weekend, the team travels to Florida for the South Florida Invitational. They begin play at 11 a.m. Friday against Bowling Green, followed by a match at 7:30 p.m. against South Florida. Saturday, the Colonels will be in action against Bethune-Cookman, and they conclude the tournament Sunday against Maryland Eastern Shore.

"South Florida will be our toughest opponent because they are a Big East team," Duncan said.

Duncan added that this weekend's tournament will work a little more in the team's favor because they will have game tape on all of their opponents.

She also issued a subtle challenge to the team.

"This is the weekend to define ourselves and be successful," Duncan said.