In its last weekend before Western Athletic Conference play begins, volleyball will travel to Beaumont to play in the Lamar Invitational.
The team enters the weekend 4-7, a losing record on paper, but Head Coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said she is pleased with how the team has competed so far, especially against larger schools like Oklahoma and Louisiana.
“I definitely think that we still have accomplished what we wanted to throughout the preseason, which was getting ready for conference play,” Moronu Alstrup said. “Along the way we’ve prepared different aspects of our game, and now this weekend we just really want to focus on finishing and winning the matches.”
The most recent loss came to the University of Tulsa Monday night in a three-set match. After this game, the team posted on Instagram that Ashli Edmiston, senior outside hitter and defensive specialist from Wilsonville, Oregon, had been named the match MVP.
This award is voted on after every game by the athletes, Edmiston said. She said it helped her feel the faith her teammates have in her performance in each game.
“It really adds to my confidence,” Edmiston said. “It just kind of shows that your teammates really trust you and are proud of you, which is so sweet. I just think once you get it, it’s like you can only go up.”
In Monday’s match, Edmiston hit .400 with five kills, the highest percentage on the team.
Moving forward, the Wildcats will have to focus on closing out sets and not letting off the gas, Moronu Alstrup and Edmiston agreed.
“It really just comes down to doing the little things really well,” Moronu Alstrup said. “We have moments of playing really good volleyball, but the mental lapses that we have at times throughout a game can’t happen whenever we’re playing a really good team.”
The three games for the Wildcats this weekend will be against Texas Southern, Cal State-Fullerton and the host school, Lamar. These games, in addition to a match at East Texas A&M on Monday, will wrap up non-conference play for the team, which will start WAC play at Utah Valley University on Sept. 25.
Conference play will bring a new level to the team’s technique this season, and Edmiston said this year’s roster is more competitive than any other team she’s been a part of as a Wildcat.
“We are so championship-minded this year, and that’s been brought up in every conversation and everybody is so bought in,” she said. “So that’s been inspiring. It’s been pushing and just really driving us. So these losses are really hard because we know that we have big goals, but it’s really cool because everybody wants to be a part of it.”
