By Editor-in-Chief Gabriella Barthe
Starting off the school year for any one can be a stressful time, and it seems that is no exception for the women’s volleyball team this year.
The team has a twenty-five match schedule for this season through October 31, three of which happened last weekend. Two home and one away game later, women’s volleyball is standing at a 0-5 season.
The Corsairs hosted Tuesday, September 10, and put up a valiant fight but ultimately lost against Clark University Cougars with game scores of 25-20, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22. This gave Clark a 3-1 win and the Corsairs their third loss in the non-league season.
Game leaders included senior Nicole Silverman with eighteen kills, freshman Emma Spach with four kills and a pair of digs, senior Jillian Sykora with 24 digs, and who received fifteen set assists.
UMass followed up with another host game on Wednesday, September 11 against Wellesley and ultimately lost 3-0. Visiting Blue who by game scores of 25-19, 25-15, and 26-24 putting the Corsairs at 0-4 for the season.
The women still gave it their all with senior Nicole Silverman registering four kills and ten digs, who received three kills each from junior Alivia Connors, sophomore Mallory Singer, and freshman Emma Spach. Ten set assists came from freshman Courtney Carreiro who also chipped in a set of service aces for UMass Dartmouth.
The Corsairs had a day to regroup before facing off Colby-Sawyer in their non-league college volleyball match. Though, like the rest of the week, the Corsairs came home with a sobering 3-2 loss from the away game. Thus, rounding off their weekend Friday, September 13 with their season at 0-5.
The first two sets looked promising for the Corsairs who won against the Chargers 25-14 and 26-24, but the tables turned as the hosts claimed a victory with the final three 25-20, 25-21, and 15-6.
As always, senior Nicole Silverman came through for the Corsairs with fourteen kills and thirteen digs. Sophomore Molly Singer, freshman Nora Craft, and Emma Spach notched six kills each while senior Jordan Rittberger gave twenty set assists and eight digs. Senior Jillian Sykora gave twenty eight digs, along with Meghan Mullinax who gave fifteen herself.
Third year Head Coach Samantha Amaral rounded off the week by announcing the Co-Captains of this year’s women’s volleyball team.
Senior Nicole Silverman led UMass Dartmouth in kills (218) and ranked third in both digs (230) and service aces (40) last fall. She has well over 500 kills and nearly 700 digs from her years with the Corsairs.
She is accompanied by senior Jillian Sykora who had three hundred seventy one digs and forty one service aces in 2018. This ranked her second in service aces and included the 1,000 dig in her career with the Corsairs.
Despite the loses so far this season, both Silverman and Sykora have been showing their skill on the court this season and are expected to lead the team well.
Amaral will lead the team through the rest of the season which includes a home game against Eastern Connecticut Warriors 7 PM Friday, September 20, and two games Saturday, September 21 against Becker and Fisher Colleges at Becker 11 AM and 1 PM respectively.