The Oswego State volleyball team prepares to head into the third and final SUNYAC pool play at Fredonia this weekend. Following a mid-season rut, the team got back on track after last weekend’s home victories.

The team currently has an overall record of 12-9 for the season.

Last weekend the Lakers hosted the second SUNYAC pool play of the year. After finishing the first conference play with a record of 1-2, the Lakers decided to kick it into high gear to pull off a clean sweep at the next home tournament.

“Our team is always known for playing from behind so after we lost our first couple of SUNYAC games the team came to practice motivated,” senior Megan Russell said.

According to Russell, the team went into the home tournament with the intention of playing their best games ever. The Lakers finished off their home tournament which included their senior game, to improve their SUNYAC record to 4-2.

Senior Emma Moriarty believes that last weekend’s success is due to the hype of having a home tournament and senior night.

“We had a lot of energy and we do really well at home games,” Moriarty said. “These games are important so we go out there with a good attitude.”

“We struggled with the first month trying to figure out how to close teams out,” head coach J.J. O’connell said. “We played a tougher schedule than we did last year.”

According to O’Connell, the team’s main goal is to win the SUNYAC  Championship, so playing tougher teams throughout the season has helped prepare and motivate the team for the next SUNYAC at Fredonia.

“It’s kind of a tricky opening against Brockport because they’ve pretty much locked up the one seed anyway,” O’Connell said. “If we pick up wins against Potsdam and Fredonia, we’re looking pretty good for getting three or four seed, which would get us a home match for the quarter finals.”

The team relies heavily on the seniors leadership during matches.

“We’re going to go as far as the seniors take us,” O’Connell said.

“We have a lot of strong players, especially setters and outsides,” senior Lauren Edwards said. “When we’re flowing as a team we just work so much better together.”

According to the seniors, the team works well together because they are always together, on and off the court.

“Our coach really puts us through a lot of team bonding [during] preseason so we really get to know each other,” senior Meaghan Roefs said. “Everyone learns each others pet peeves and how to play with each other really fast and that really helps and attributes to our success.”

Moving forward to the next SUNYAC pool play at Fredonia, the team is preparing to go into the games stronger than ever.

“Fredonia is who we took the fifth set from last year in the quarterfinals so we know they’re coming out with a vengeance,” senior Lindsey Champitto said.

“In the SUNYAC anyone can win so it’s really good to go out there and and have a really good competitive spirit,” Roefs said.

The lineup for Fredonia is the College at Brockport, with a current conference record of 6-0, Potsdam, with a record of 1-5 and Fredonia, with a current record of 4-2. The SUNYAC tournament will be held on Oct. 21 to Oct. 22. If the Lakers pull through, they will secure a spot in the quarterfinals.