The Maroons competed in the Benedictine tournament in Lisle, IL this weekend, marking the end of the regular season and the beginning of a much more intense postseason.
โThis is the fun time of the year,โ head coach Vanessa Walby said. โThis is when everything counts.โ
The Maroons collected three wins and one loss over the weekend, bringing their overall season standing to 26โ9. They defeated North Central College, North Park University, and Concordia University Chicago with relative ease but fell against Benedictine on its home court.
Second-year libero Eirene Kim and third-year setter Nikki DelZenero were named to the All-Tournament Team.
โI think overall we played well, but at times we werenโt 100 percent focused,โ first-year setter Ragine Graves said. โThe second day of play was much more efficient and successful.โ
โItโs fun to play really, really hard even though we werenโt playing the greatest of teams,โ third-year middle-blocker Maggie Vaughn said. โThat sort of drive that you practice when youโre not playing that great of a team is what won us the match against Wash U.โ
The Maroons defeated North Central 3โ1 on Friday before facing defeat from Benedictine 1โ3. They then defeated both North Park and Concordia 3โ0 on Saturday.
โBenedictine is not a better team, but recently weโve been losing to teams who are not as skilled as us but have more of something thatโs intangible, which is scrappiness and fight,โ Vaughn said. โThey keep everything in play and really attack us in places that weโre weak, like attacking the big girls on tips. They just came at us and didnโt stop the whole time.โ
Kim had an impressive showing over the weekend, registering 24 and 29 digs the first day of the tournament and 24 more the second day, plus eight assists.
โTheyโve been doing this all season long. Iโm specifically talking about Eirene Kim and Samantha Brown; they stay strong through every single game and itโs really amazing,โ Vaughn said. โWhen we were falling against Benedictine they picked us up and made sure we didnโt get crushed.โ
After one of their strongest seasons yet, it remains to be seen if the Maroons will be able to pull through in the postseason. In the end, it comes down to focus and execution, and this past weekend was a lessonโperhaps a hard lessonโon the challenges theyโll face. The UAA Championship kicks off on November 2.
โYour mindset needs to be tougher,โ Walby said, โand expectations are higher.โ