By Marielle Winuk
The Lumberjacks were full of vengeance last week; playing at home, they set the record straight against Menlo College and Cal State Monterey Bay. After what should have been easy wins on the road two weeks ago, the Lumberjacks returned home with their first losses since starting conference play.
Head volleyball coach Angela Spoja attributed the losses to unexpected injuries and long travel days.
“We had some injuries, and we still have those people out and we had to figure out what our best lineup was going to be,” Spoja said. “Because those injuries happened right before we played last week, I don’t think we had the time to kind of work through it. Had we been able to do that, I think it might have been a different outcome.”
In addition, most of the teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) have the luxury of playing against schools near them. There are clusters of schools in the Bay Area as well as in Southern California.
Humboldt has the disadvantage of traveling five plus hours every week to games, which is taxing on the players. They are away from their normal food, in hotel beds and spending long hours away from school.
When the Jacks returned home, they spent the bulk of their practice on blocking and court positioning. This was substantial to the Jacks’ performance, as they delivered 15 solo blocks in five sets against Menlo when at home. Phoebe Bland delivered her sixth solo block of the game to clench the game winning point.
“It felt really good. Really fulfilling, honestly,” Bland said. “We worked on specifically blocking all week, so we totally did show up.”
Despite beating Monterey and Menlo on the second go around, because it was a bye week in the National College Athletics Association (NCAA), neither win will count towards the conference record. During the scheduled NCAA bye week, teams can focus on recovery and have a break from traveling. The Lumberjacks’ record in conference games remains 2-2.
Their achilles heel this season has been closing games in the third set. The Jack’s momentum dies down and smaller errors start occurring more frequently.
“It just takes some time,” Spoja said. “You’re about to win, you play a little bit tight. We’re working on staying loose.”
The young team is hungry to remain undefeated at home, and is working to improve their conference record on the road next week against San Bernardino and San Marcos.
“I’m hoping for some upsets,” Bland said. “We’re gonna go in hard. We’re gonna study, study, study film, and we’re gonna see what we can give them.”
Marielle is the layout editor with an interest in sports and elections. Contact her at mmw146@humboldt.edu.