The SUNY Plattsburgh volleyball team lost to SUNY Potsdam 3-0 in the SUNYAC schedule opener for both teams.
The Cardinals looked to bounce back from three consecutive losses to Williams College, Skidmore College and Union College.
For the match with Potsdam, the Cards came close even the match although they lost 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-22).
As for the Union Invitational last Friday, Plattsburgh State was topped by Williams 25-16, 25-9 and 25-18. The following day, the Cards loss to both Skidmore (25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 16-25) and Union (9-25, 21-25, 13-25).
Head coach Matthew Lein said the week was rough for the team results-wise. He said after competing with the teams, the Cards were pointed out on what they need to work on but on their strengths also.
Lein also said he was encouraged with the level of play by his team as they competed in the Union Invitational.
“The fact that we can compete with those teams was a confidence booster for us and so I think that’ll be huge for us going forward,” Lein said.
Junior Michelle Simmons said it was an improvement for the team also, compared to the previous week, in terms of intensity and how they kept up with their opponent. She also thinks, personally, she needs to improve on getting out to block and reading the switch-ups of the opposing team.
For future games, Simmons expects herself to have positive energy and a higher mental focus on the game.
“As long as we keep up our consistency and remain positive as a team, like nobody gets down on each other, nobody gets frustrated. As long as we keep that and keep pushing our points, if we get on ahead and get a lead, hopefully, we’ll stay in that lead and keep pushing,” Simmons said.
Simmons believes that, even though there are things the team needs to work on, the team is definitely getting better every day.
Lein said there are different personalities on the team and they clash sometimes but the players are getting to know each other better, which is something that is helping the team’s chemistry on the floor.
Lein also said the team is starting to settle into a lineup that will probably be used mostly throughout the conference matches with maybe one or two interchangeable pieces. For now, the team has a core group that plays every match and he tries to get as much playing time as he can for them to practice and continue to grow their chemistry.
“We really try to tailor our practices to the strength of Potsdam yesterday and try to work on defending and attacking that, and so I think now it’s just about getting mentally prepared, getting mentally ready,” Lein said when asked about the team’s preparation before their match with Potsdam. “Whatever they need to do to get themselves in the zone and I think that that’s different for everybody.”
The team was excited for the match and playing in front of the home crowd. Lein believes the team wanted to redeem themselves after losing to Potsdam last year.
Plattsburgh State will travel to Canton this weekend for the Canton Tri Match where they will go up against Elmira College and SUNY Canton.
“Having consistency on the team has been one of our main focuses the past couple of weeks so probably just working on that [for the upcoming matches],” Simmons said.
