The Plattsburgh State volleyball team look to remain focused on the task at hand following a rough weekend, which saw the team lose three SUNYAC matches to Brockport, Geneseo and New Paltz.
The team knows how important this part of the season is with its final conference matches scheduled for next weekend.
“I saw a lot of promises. We were in both matches—we took a set,” Head Coach Jake Bluhm said. “What we can take from this is that we are competing with these teams. We just need to find a way to over the hump and win those matches.”
Bluhm said against New Paltz he thought the team played very well.
“We played the best defense we’ve played all year,” Bluhm said. “It takes a lot of character, especially against New Paltz to come back to win the set from a very good team.”
Bluhm said the next step for the team is to learn how to beat those teams.
“Teams like that won’t beat themselves. We just need to find a way to get over the hump,” Bluhm said. “It’s not that we’re getting blown out, we’re playing good volleyball. We’re doing some nice things with a young team.”
Bluhm said the team is not out of the playoff by any means and if they get the job done against three beatable teams next weekend they’ll be in a good spot.
“We have a lot of potential—we just need to find it,” Bluhm said. “It has everything to do with getting more reps on the ball in practice, trusting each other and a gaining a little bit of confidence.” Sophomore outside hitter Sam Colombagrees.
“In the matches I saw the drive to want to win,” Colombo said. “There is always room for improvement, we are a young team so there’s a lot of growing that’s still needs to happen. I saw a lot of positives things.”
Colombo said that the team needs to play with high intensity and that drive should carry them into the next two weekends.
“Our goal is to make it to playoffs so we are really going to have to work hard to get there,” Colombo said. “I expect the team to know what needs to happen for us to win and really understand how much it means to us to make it to playoffs.”
Colombo said the team has improved since the beginning of the season but they could do better.
“For the rest of the season I’m just expecting us to keep up with the fast tempo and just have that mentality that no ball hits the floor,” Colombo said.
Bluhm said one thing the team needs to work is its offense.
“We need to be more diverse on offense and finds way to score points,” Bluhm said. “Defensively I think we’re doing a nice job.”
Bluhm said if the team wants to be the best, they’re going to have to beat teams of high caliber.
“We’ve had some tests this season,” Bluhm said. “Even if we didnt win I think at the end of the day it made us a better team.”
For the final stretch of matches Bluhm said that they will try to keep the everybody sharp by implementing new things in practice.
“We just want them to maintain that level of competitiveness and be prepared for anything during matches.”
Colombo said she expects more high intensity drills during practice. Which she believes will keep everyone alert.
“Those drills are good because they keep us on our toes,” Colombo said.
“It’ll keep us on our toes. Also there will be probably more running than before to keep us in shape and prepare us for those long rallies during matches.”
“By taking a set and being competitive with these teams, they understand the level they need to play at,” Bluhm said. “Every match is crucial at this point in the season. Next weekend, is by far the most important weekend of the season. We just got to take of business.”
Email David Luces at managingeditor@cardinalpointsonline.com
