After two tight losses on the road last weekend, the women’s volleyball team will return to the Pizzitola Center to battle both Columbia and Cornell this weekend.
These two games could be the turning point in the season, said captain Maddie Lord ’15.
Princeton and Penn edged the Bears last weekend by narrow margins, and the close losses have stuck with the team throughout this week, said Maryl Vanden Bos ’15.
“Coming off of two extremely close losses, we’ve refocused and had really productive practices this week,” she said.
Though Bruno currently has an overall losing record, 6-11, the women have secured a winning record at home, going 4-2 on College Hill.
They will kick off the weekend against Columbia. The Lions have had mixed results in Ivy League play, going 3-2 in the conference and 7-7 in overall competition.
Last year, Columbia “shut down the right side,” Lord said, not allowing Brown’s right-side hitters to get any kills. The Lions have continued to present a strong defensive front into this year, outperforming their opponents in blocks and digs. Throughout the season, Columbia has more than doubled its competitors’ solo blocks.
To combat the mighty Lion defense, Bruno needs to come into this game prepared to “work with whatever they give us,” Lord said. The captain said the team worked this week on changing their shots after the trouble they had capitalizing on kills in last weekend’s contest versus Penn.
“Columbia is one of the best blocking teams in the league right now, so we’ll need to do our jobs for every single rally in order to win long points,” Vanden Bos said.
The Bears will have to compete in the absence of outside hitter Shannon Frost ’16, who will miss the game due to an injury.
Though the team has mostly been focusing on Columbia, Lord said Cornell could come out and surprise them. The Big Red heads into Saturday’s competition on a seven-game losing streak, falling to all of their Ivy League opponents so far. But similar to Columbia, Cornell has displayed strength and tenacity on the defensive end.
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