Caroline Bryant and Sophia Costa
Editor-in-Chief and Staff Writer
The Lady Mocs walked away from FSC Volleyball Classic at George Jenkins Field House Sept. 6 with a 2-1 starting streak. They dominated their first match against American International College, winning all three sets. Senior Sandra Sasaki led the game with nine kills, followed by junior Morgan Word with eight kills. Word also finished with the game with only one error, ending the game with a .636 hitting percentage.
In the opener of day two, the Mocs fell to the Augusta Jaguars 3-1, a team who received votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll, but bounced back the next game to upset No. 14 Lewis College 3-1. Graduate Mackenize Peterman swept both games in kills, with 14 in the first game and 12 against the Flyers.
The Mocs return to the court Sept. 13 at the Net Results Invite in Hillsdale, Michigan, hoping to conquer Purdue Northwest, Clarion and Hillsdale College– Clarion and Hillsdale who both received votes from the AVCA.
Ashlee Crowder, who returns for her second year as head coach of the women’s volleyball team is excited to see what her team has in store for the upcoming season.
“[It’s a] really athletic group, a good mix of returners and newcomers, and new faces,” Crowder said. “I’m excited. I know they’re rearing up to go and looking forward to competing, too.”
New faces include five freshmen and transfer student Sasaki. Sasaki hails from Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, but played two years at Salt Lake City Community College and one year at Emporia State University prior to FSC.
“She [Sasaki] transferred from a Division 2 school last year and so she is here for a year,” Crowder said. “She just brings a really high IQ. that’s just kind of how they train over there in her country. She has got a lot of court sense and a real heavy arm, as well, so I think she will be a newcomer, but a strong presence for us.”
Graduate students Peterman and Caroline Chambers are other standouts who remain on the team. Crowder praises Peterman for her offensive abilities, as she received an All-American Honorable Mention last year– just the 34th player in program history to earn an All-American award.
Besides dependable athletes, Crowder uses the team’s blocking skills to their advantage.
“Blocking is one of our things,” Crowder said. “I think just offensively we have had some pretty good numbers with the connection between the hitters and setters, so that kind of is our next chapter that we will dive into. We worked on it quite a bit …So putting those two pieces together is crucial.”
Despite reaching for wins, Crowder hopes to extend her team’s mentality. Their team motto this year is “selflessness,” encouraging her team to show-up for each other no matter the circumstances.
“Obviously being a team sport I have a hard job come Friday at seven o’clock picking the starting lineup, right,” Crowder said. “I can only pick six-to-seven players who are in the lineup when I hand that sheet in, so that means the other 10 or so girls have to show some selflessness and know that their teammates want the best for them.”
As someone who honors team culture, Crowder hopes the motto will strengthen her team for their Lakeland return Oct. 4 against Embry-Riddle.
Results from the Net Results Invite were unavailable when publication was put online.
