2008 Woodie Awards
Red Hawk Volleyball Team Drops Fifth Straight
Rutgers-Newark Defeats MSU in Three Straight Matches at Panzer Gym on Tuesday
Jose Ortiz
Issue date: 9/16/04 Section: Sports
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In the second of a three-match set, the Red Hawk volleyball team was down by one, serving for match point. They stood on the brink of evening the series up at one all with just one match left to play. This was when the Scarlet Raiders showed why they, and not the Red Hawks, are the defending Conference Champions.
Down 29-28, the Scarlet Raiders reeled off three consecutive points, including an attack error by Red Hawk sophomore, Asia Livingston, giving Rutgers-Newark the second match and the advantage in a best of three series.
As a team, the Red Hawks committed 30 attack errors, seven serving errors, and no aces. The bigger, taller girls of Rutgers-Newark had fewer total attacks, but ended with more kills, and fewer errors.
The big difference in the game was the net defense of the Scarlet Raiders who had 13 total blocks as opposed to the Red Hawks who had none. The Red Hawks, whose tallest girl is 5'9, gave up a lot of size to Rutgers who had four players of at least 5'9 and one who was over 6'0.
Livingston contends that it wasn't Rutgers size advantage that beat them. "We killed ourselves tonight, not Rutgers." Livingston, who is among the team leaders in points and digs, may have a point. In that second game, MSU relinquished the lead 10 times, including six times in the final eight points of the match.
At times the Red Hawks seemed perfectly in-sync, beautifully placing balls just out of the reach of the towering arms of Rutgers senior, Sharon Guise, who led the Raiders in kills with eight. But then there were other moments where the team seemed to have communication breakdowns, and let balls drop in between two players who thought the other would get it. Livingston says, "We just have to work together, we're still learning to play together." The volleyball team is clearly a young one, with seven sophomores, and freshmen, only two juniors and no seniors.
After the Red Hawks eventually lost the second game, Rutgers-Newark made short work of MSU in the third game to complete the three game sweep at Panzer Gym. In the end, the numbers showed that Rutgers-Newark was more committed to the power game than the Red Hawks. The Scarlet Raiders set up nine more kill opportunities, and also converted all nine of those into points.
If you take away the self inflicted mistakes like serving and attack errors, as well as bad sets, the Red Hawks may have been able to come away three up instead of three down. Mistakes are going to happen, and will happen more often with a younger team not used to playing with each other. Livingston, who had 10 digs and three kills, says "It's still early in the season, I think we'll be fine."
The loss dropped MSU to 3-6, while Rutgers improved to 3-4 and moved ahead of the Red Hawks in the standings. When asked to comment on her team's losing effort on Tuesday night, MSU head coach Sandy Sanchez-Lombeyda promptly declined, saying that she would keep her comments to herself. Sometimes silence speaks volumes.
Down 29-28, the Scarlet Raiders reeled off three consecutive points, including an attack error by Red Hawk sophomore, Asia Livingston, giving Rutgers-Newark the second match and the advantage in a best of three series.
As a team, the Red Hawks committed 30 attack errors, seven serving errors, and no aces. The bigger, taller girls of Rutgers-Newark had fewer total attacks, but ended with more kills, and fewer errors.
The big difference in the game was the net defense of the Scarlet Raiders who had 13 total blocks as opposed to the Red Hawks who had none. The Red Hawks, whose tallest girl is 5'9, gave up a lot of size to Rutgers who had four players of at least 5'9 and one who was over 6'0.
Livingston contends that it wasn't Rutgers size advantage that beat them. "We killed ourselves tonight, not Rutgers." Livingston, who is among the team leaders in points and digs, may have a point. In that second game, MSU relinquished the lead 10 times, including six times in the final eight points of the match.
At times the Red Hawks seemed perfectly in-sync, beautifully placing balls just out of the reach of the towering arms of Rutgers senior, Sharon Guise, who led the Raiders in kills with eight. But then there were other moments where the team seemed to have communication breakdowns, and let balls drop in between two players who thought the other would get it. Livingston says, "We just have to work together, we're still learning to play together." The volleyball team is clearly a young one, with seven sophomores, and freshmen, only two juniors and no seniors.
After the Red Hawks eventually lost the second game, Rutgers-Newark made short work of MSU in the third game to complete the three game sweep at Panzer Gym. In the end, the numbers showed that Rutgers-Newark was more committed to the power game than the Red Hawks. The Scarlet Raiders set up nine more kill opportunities, and also converted all nine of those into points.
If you take away the self inflicted mistakes like serving and attack errors, as well as bad sets, the Red Hawks may have been able to come away three up instead of three down. Mistakes are going to happen, and will happen more often with a younger team not used to playing with each other. Livingston, who had 10 digs and three kills, says "It's still early in the season, I think we'll be fine."
The loss dropped MSU to 3-6, while Rutgers improved to 3-4 and moved ahead of the Red Hawks in the standings. When asked to comment on her team's losing effort on Tuesday night, MSU head coach Sandy Sanchez-Lombeyda promptly declined, saying that she would keep her comments to herself. Sometimes silence speaks volumes.