WSU Volleyball | Photo by Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian
A historic season for Wright State volleyball has come to an end after a 0-3 loss to Georgia Tech in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.
The loss
The Horizon League powerhouse with 23 wins in a row was not enough to break through the Yellow Jackets, as the Atlantic Coast Conference team was too fast and too tall for the Raiders.
“It was a great opportunity for our team to play a great opponent in Georgia Tech,” Travers Green, head coach for WSU, said. “I don’t think it was anything we did. It was just, the Georgia Tech team was a really good team, and they certainly challenged us in a lot of different areas.”
The match
The Raiders went into the match knowing it would be the most difficult of the year, but that still did not help against the quick attack and height advantage of the Yellow Jackets.
The 6-foot-2 Erin Moss and the 6-foot-5 Julia Bergmann were too dominant in the middle for WSU to handle, especially with its quick setting, as Georgia Tech would total 41 kills to WSU’s 27.
WSU’s best set was its final of the night, as the team jumped to a 4-2 start in the third, but even after some adjustments, the Yellow Jackets were still the dominant side; but, the Raiders showed some confidence and grit against No. 13 Georgia Tech.
“It was our last shot to go out there and give it all that we got, and we had a little better of a mentality going into it,” Jenna Story, a fifth-year senior for WSU, said. “I think that helped with our confidence and our composure and everything.”
As the set would be the last for several players on the WSU roster, it was important to play for each other and keep fighting for the whole team.
“We went out there playing for each other,” Sam Ott, an outside hitter for the Raiders, said. “For our seniors, that could possibly be their last set, and so we talked in the huddle, and we were like, ‘Let’s just go out and play for each other, we have nothing to lose.’”
Look to next season
From a win streak record to individual player records, this season has brought a lot of success to Green’s first year as a head coach. For Green, that comes from how welcoming the team was to new ideas.
“We’ve had some unbelievable accomplishments throughout the season, and then you’re looking forward to winning our conference championship and then looking forward to this,” Green said. “I think what will always stand out about this group is how welcoming they have been.”
Jenna Story grabbed the third place spot this year for career digs in NCAA history, and the whole roster would combine in the conference tournament to take home a championship.
For Green, in order to keep building this program forward, it comes down to facing tougher opponents in non-conference to continue the experiences the team gained in the NCAA tournament.
“We faced some tougher opponents, but we didn’t really face a lot of teams like Georgia Tech,” Green said. “I’ll try to schedule in a way so that we can experience some of that, but I think the team is also aware of some things that we have to get better at to play at this level.”
