Coming off a tough tournament last week at Syracuse, Cortland wants to come out stronger when going to Oswego despite the loss of their starting setter.
With two brand new setters working with the A team, the team has a lot to work on if they want to get back to where they were.
“It’s going to take some time before we can get comfortable with each other”, said captain and president, Liz Serafin, “we originally had one setter on the A team but I’ve decided to pull another setter up to see if the new setters are able to work well with us.”
In preparation for the tournament, their team wants to incorporate new plays to get defenses guessing. Sam, the club’s vice president, had watched the film on the Syracuse tournament to see what they could improve and to study other teams and how they play.
“I wanted to see how other teams worked together and the plays they ran,” said Sam Arone. “Cuse ran this unique play that kept killing us, so I wanted to try and bring that play to our team. I think we’re capable enough to run this play but it will take time for it to be perfect.”
With a rough first tournament of the season, the women’s team is determined to get back on their feet. The team was upset that Syracuse wasn’t going to this tournament because they wanted to face their rivals. But the University of Buffalo is the team to beat at Oswego.
“They have a solid team with a lot of good players, said Ashley Berstein. “We need to be consistent throughout the whole game, we are always getting lazy on plays where we should be getting the point.”
Ashley is an excellent back-row player who is in charge and leads the passers in the back. She has eyes on all the players on the court. She notices that the blockers are not penetrating and pressing over the net. When the blockers don’t press over the net, there’s more room for error when the opposing team is hitting.
“When I’m in the back row I can see if the blockers are where they are supposed to be. A lot of the time the ball will go straight down or off the block. I know most times it isn’t the blocker’s fault, but we need to read the set and position ourselves better so we can give up fewer points.”
The skills that each player brings to the table is what makes this team so dominant. The chemistry they share on and off the court is unlike any other team. It’s just the little things that they need to improve to make the team a top contender in all tournaments.