Junior defensive specialist Lexie Torres serves against Northwestern State University. She recorded 15 digs in the match where the Lady Lions lost 3-0. Nikisun Shrestha/The Lion's Roar
The volleyball team dropped three matches last week which made their overall fall to 2-22. The three successive 3-0 losses to Stephen F. Austin State University, University of Central Arkansas and Northwestern State University meant that the team remains winless against conference oppositions.
Head Coach Jim Smoot gave his thoughts on the recent loss to Northwestern State Demons.
“I actually thought that the first set had factors that really took us out of the game,” said Smoot. “You know it’s just consistency. We play brilliant at a time but we just can’t maintain it. Once we learn to maintain it, we’re gonna be in good shape.”
Junior defensive specialist Lexie Torres shared that the team is trying hard in practice to face different oppositions.
“I think we did really good,” said Torres. “Every game is different and this team was extremely good. After every game, we have the same talk. We have more work to do. I think after every practice, we get better, and I think next year it’ll really reflect what we’re practicing.”
In the game against the Demons, Smoot and Torres found common areas of concern that led to their loss.
“Our passing, servicing really broke down,” said Smoot. “We were not able to run our offense. If we look at the stats, the pin hitters, only one of them hit positive. Our middles, Sam Gomez and Tempestt, we could not get the ball to them ’cause the passing broke down. That was a major factor, and I thought that just all the concentration of movement was not there.”
Torres explained the skill sets that were not up to the mark for the team to succeed but said the team tried to correct them in the third set.
“With the negatives, definitely our serve receiving,” said Torres. “During the break, we had three things to work on: our serve receive, our blocking and our swinging that the pin hitters didn’t have a good hitting percentage. The positive is that we actually changed that in the third set.”
The game against the Demons was also the Dig Pink match where the team came out to support breast cancer awareness.
“A lot of our families come and some of them actually go through breast cancer radiation and everything,” said Torres. “I just think it’s important that we support it, and we talked about it before the game, the important things about it.”
For the rest of the season, Smoot expects the team to perform at a high standard consistently.
“I always expect us to play at our highest level at a more consistent rate,” said Smoot. “I know we have the capacity to do that.”
Torres described how the team is coping with the losses this season.
“I’m just thankful to be on the team with the girls,” said Torres. “We’re a family. I think nobody realizes that. Yeah, we lose a lot, but we have fun all of the time. We love each other.”
The team will play Lamar University next on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. in the University Center.
