The Plattsburgh State volleyball team went into this week determined to end its three match losing streak — they did just that with a win over SUNY Canton Tuesday. The victory moved the Cards record back to 500 and with six of its 8 remaining matches against SUNYACs opponents this might be the team’s most important stretch of the season.
“It’s always good to get a win,” head coach Jake Bluhm said. “There are always lessons to be learned in matches and the most important thing is that we stay together no matter who we play.”
Bluhm said a take away from the match versus Canton was that despite the team winning a match not as cleanly it’s always good to know that they can play better.
“Getting some tough points during the match and fighting through some adversity was good to see,” Bluhm said. “They need to push themselves to be better.”
Sophomore outside hitter Sam Colombo agrees.
“This win was very important,” Colombo said. “It showed us what we need to accomplish as a team to win the games this weekend.”
Colombo said that some positives to take away from the last match was that the team’s communication was strong and keep moving our offense around to keep the other team guessing.
Bluhm said the team understands the level that need to play to be successful in the SUNYAC conference.
“Every conference weekend is the most important weekend of the year,” Bluhm said. “ I say it all the time, it doesn’t matter who we play.”
The Cards will be playing three of the top four teams in the SUNYAC conference.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend,” Bluhm said. “It’ll be a good indicator what we’re going to have to do to win.”
The team will also gameplan a little differently for this weekend.
“We’re going to have to change some things against those teams,” Bluhm said. “Have to be more aggressive on the offensive side and come out with more intensity.”
Bluhm said they will be facing some of the best teams this season and a key is to play consistent from start to finish.
“Since the beginning of the season the chemistry has approved,” Bluhm said.
Despite the Cards being 10-10 on the season the team isn’t satisfied.
“It’s nice because in the past we haven’t been in this position this late in the season,” Bluhm said. “Looking back, there were a couple of matches that we could’ve won that would have helped our record.”
This weekend Bluhm expects the team to drive themselves to play its best volleyball of the season.
“Things like moving our feet, being ready for everything, covering and blocking. There are always stuff that need to be worked on,” Colombo said. “I think this team has improved since the beginning of the season and we got more comfortable playing with each other. But, I think we need to work harder at becoming a smarter team because we have the skills now we just need apply them to the game.”
For the rest of the season Colombo said that she expects everyone working their hardest in practice and on the court so that can help them gain some more wins.
“This is where we make a push at the goals we decided on in preseason which was to make it to the postseason,” Bluhm said.
Email David Luces at managingeditor@cardinalpointsonline.com
