By Karly Ratzenberger
Last weekend, the Wildcats traveled north to take on Findlandia University and Michigan Technological University. The volleyball team had another successful weekend, defeating Finlandia 3-0 on Thursday, Sept. 29 and Tech 3-0 on Friday, Sept. 30.
Junior defensive specialist Kalin Zimmerman said she was impressed with the team’s performance and its ability to come out on top last weekend against Tech and Finlandia.
“Our team played well this weekend,” Zimmerman said. “There were a few times we let our opponents manipulate our play, but overall we put together two good games.”
Zimmerman attributed the ’Cats’ success to hard work in practice and rigorous preparation.
“We were well prepared for the weekend,” Zimmerman said. “We had a tough week of practice beforehand and knew what we needed to do differently with our offense and defense in order to defeat both Finlandia and Tech.”
Senior outside hitter Emma Wolfe said the team was well prepared and she was satisfied with the team’s performance, despite poor circumstances regarding a few starting players.
“The team played well this weekend considering that we were working with a different lineup because some people were injured,” Wolfe said.
Two of the ’Cats’ starters were out this weekend due to injury. One was sophomore right side hitter Ellen Lemos who was out this week for surgery on a broken finger.
Lemos broke her finger in practice while blocking and is uncertain about when she will be able to return.
“We could have used her on the right side this weekend for both our block and our right side attack,” Zimmerman said. “We had to change the lineup around with two of our starters going down, which affected us a little, but we still handled the changes well.”
Sophomore outside hitter Lina Lopes rolled her ankle in practice and was unable to travel with the team last weekend to allow time for physical therapy.
“Lina is one of our best passers and defensive players,” Zimmerman said. “Her consistent play in the back court is something we missed out on this past weekend and look forward to having again this week,”
Despite the team’s injuries, the ’Cats came out on top against Finlandia and Tech by using a hybrid of offense and defensive play.
“This weekend was a combination of both offense and defense. However, we do need to work on having both of these aspects work together,” Wolfe said.
Zimmerman noted the team’s enthusiasm this weekend and said that the high energy in the match against Tech made all the difference.
“The energy this weekend was overall very high, especially against Tech,” Zimmerman said. “We had three close games and our energy is what helped us pull through.”
Tuesday, Oct. 4, the ’Cats took on the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs at the Vandament Arena. UMD took the match (3-0).
Zimmerman said the team heavily prepared for the match against University of Minnesota-Duluth this week and said the match was the toughest of the season for the ’Cats.
“Practice for Monday was planned around that match for UMD. The rest of this week, practice will be challenging,” Zimmerman said. “We want to keep our winning streak going, and this weekend is an important weekend and a great opportunity for us to do that.”
Wolfe said the team has a few things it needs to work on to prepare for its matches.
“Our team definitely needs to work on blocking a little bit more and making sure to take aggressive swings while still mixing up our shots,” Wolfe said.
Next week the Wildcats will play at home against Ohio Dominican University and Tiffin University. This weekend, the Wildcats take on Ohio Dominican at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 and Tiffin at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Vandament.
