The Oswego State volleyball team split games between conference rivals SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Oneonta this past weekend and look to improve against two more conference foes this weekend.
Last Friday the Lakers took on the Hawks at home in a 3-1 loss. Oswego State started off strong, but then lost the last three sets to a now 8-7 SUNY New Paltz team. Junior Melissa Lussiar and senior Shauna O’Flaherty led the way with 14 and 13 kills a piece. Head coach J.J. O’Connell was disappointed in the end result.
“We came out really strong against New Paltz,” O’Connell said. “We were up in the fourth [set] and we’ve had a couple issues with that this season, we have had a couple matches this season where we are up late [and] end up losing that set. There’s still issues we are working on.”
The Lakers rebounded the next day against the Red Dragons winning 3-2. With the Lakers down 2-1 heading into the fourth set, they dominated the last two sets, winning those by a total score of 40-23. Lussier once again played well with 14 kills.
Senior Julia Flohr was pleased with Oswego State’s battle level.
“I think we played really well,” Flohr said. “We played efficient, we played clean and even though we were down we fought back. We had resiliency.”
The Lakers now have a 1-2 record in conference play and are sixth in the SUNYAC.
Oswego State has another weekend full of conference play. The Lakers travel to Plattsburgh State to take on the Cardinals and then go to SUNY Potsdam to face the Bears. Both of these teams sit below the Lakers in the conference, so this is a good opportunity to move up in the standings. The Cardinals have not won a set in conference play all year, so the Lakers should be feeling confident in that regard. As for the Bears, they may have the same conference record as the Lakers but in non-conference play they are 7-11, while Oswego State is a very strong 15-6. That being said, those two conference losses for SUNY Potsdam came against two of the best teams in the SUNYAC in SUNY Geneseo and The College at Brockport. Like O’Connell mentioned, Lussier believes the Lakers need to play hard from start to finish.
“I feel like we are really good at coming out strong but need to work on finishing the games,” Lussier said. “We were up 20-16 in one of the sets [this past weekend] and we let them come back on us. We just need to fight and keep pushing.”
The Lakers have been really good at setting the tone this season, as in their first 20 games of the year, they have won 13 of the first sets. In these games, they are 12-1. These quick starts are advantageous, and if they can continue to do that, they will have success this upcoming weekend. If Oswego State goes down, it cannot afford to get discouraged, but rather play hard and with confidence. The Lakers dominated the last two sets of the game against SUNY Oneonta and that is what needs to happen every single game. After 20 games, the Lakers should start to gel as conference play gets into full swing and O’Connell can sense the strong chemistry.
“The players really like each other,” O’Connell said. “They work hard in practice, it’s a typical team, you are going to have your ups and downs and we manage through those, but the chemistry is very good with our team.”
O’Flaherty agreed with O’Connell’s sentiments regarding chemistry. Roster continuity from last season is a huge reason as to why the team is meshing so well.
“The chemistry is really good,” O’Flaherty said. “[Most of us have] been playing with each other for three years now as [most] of us are upperclassmen, I feel like we want to win and the energy is really good on the court.”
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
