Volleyball hopes to meet its own standards in league play

After three weeks of non-league games, the volleyball team commences meaningful Ivy League play this weekend, taking on Princeton on Fri., Oct. 3 and Pennsylvania on Sat., Oct. 4. Each league match is crucial for the Elis, since the team plays its Ancient Eight opponents only once before the Ivy Championships, and these round robin results are the sole determinant of the tournament seeding.

The Bulldogs are already familiar with the Tigers after defeating Princeton at last week's Rutgers Tournament. The squad finished second in the competition, defeating both the Tigers and Towson State after dropping the first match of the tournament to the host Scarlet Knights.

Coach Peg Scofield had mixed feelings about her team's performance in New Jersey. "I wasn't happy with our play against Rutgers," she said. "But we made some key changes and really improved our game against both Princeton and Towson. We still have so much work to do; right now, we just have to think about competing. We can't worry about dominating the league for another month." Team captain Sarahliz Braugh, JE '98, added, "Rutgers smoked us, but we did improve in every match."

Both Rosie Wustrack, BR '99, and Phoebe Dann, CC '98, were named to the All-Tournament team. Asked if she had made any special adjustments in her game, Dann said, "I'm just working really hard. This weekend was the first time I've felt like I was playing as well as I did last year." Wustrack, who finished the tournament with 36 kills and 45 digs, admitted, "I really have been trying to improve on all aspects of my game, especially blocking. This weekend was an excellent test for me."

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Players and coach agree that this weekend's match against Princeton will have a considerably different atmosphere than last weekend's event did. Since this is the first game that will count towards tournament seeding, Scofield said she knows both teams will come ready to compete. "This is the first league game. Every team will start to play harder. Hopefully our guns will be working better by Friday, because Princeton will definitely be trying harder than they were last week."

Princeton has traditionally been one of Yale's biggest volleyball rivals, and the Bulldogs have enjoyed success against them. Yale defeated the Tigers in the semifinals of last year's Ivy Championship before eventually losing to Harvard in the tournament final. Last weekend's victory marks two in a row for Yale against traditionally tough Princeton. Does this Eli squad have the Tigers' number? Braugh is not sure. "Princeton is really going to want to beat us, and they always play to a crowd, even if it's not their own," she commented. "They are going to come out really tough."

This has not been an ordinary preseason for the squad. The entire team traveled to California the weekend of Sept. 19th and 20th for four matches against powerhouse West Coast opponents. Yale placed in the top 10 in their region last season, and also notched a key win over the Georgetown Hoyas. Braugh feels this is one of the main reasons the club was selected by the athletic department to travel this season. The trip proved to be a real eye-opener for the Bulldogs as they dropped four consecutive matches, losing in turn to Boise State, San José State, Saint Mary's, and San Francisco. The trip was more than simply a volleyball experience for Yale players, however. Fourteen of the 16 Yale players hail from California, which means that the team was playing in front of crowds filled with family and friends.

Scofield admitted that the presence of so many parents did prove to be a distraction. "A lot of the time was taken up by the parents," she said. "The team's jet lag was a factor, as well as the fact that we weren't just going back to the hotel and zoning out after the games; they were all spending time with their families."

Despite the losses, Wustrack took an optimistic approach. "The trip was a real learning experience for us. The losses were humbling, but they didn't get us too down, because we all realized that we could play with these teams." Dann added that the trip was emotionally valuable to the team. "When we stepped off of the plane together we were all almost in tears, we were so happy to be home. Nothing could have ruined that weekend. It really helped us bond as a group."

As league play begins, the Bulldogs realize that they still have much work to do before they can be recognized as true championship contenders. Scofield said that she has been hard on her team recently. "It's tough to be mean. It's confusing when one minute the coach is your best friend and the next minute she's riding your butt," Scofield said. "But the team knows they have to be pushed. They have to execute all the time if they want to dominate."

Braugh said that this is the most intense she's ever seen her coach. However, she knows there is an important explanation for Scofield's conduct. "She put herself on the line this season, saying that we were going to win it all. We all feel an element of panic, like this year we have to win. Coach is angrier than I've ever seen her; she's on top of us all the time. But it's good for us in the long run."

A 3-0 domination of Fairfield at home on Wed., Oct. 1 improved the Elis' overall mark to 7-5, and extended their current winning streak to three matches, giving the squad momentum entering the season's biggest contests to date. This weekend marks the beginning of crucial competition for the team. An air of tension and expectation surrounds both players and coach. These first two league matches will do much to show the Elis whether or not they are on the way to meeting the high standards they set for themselves at the start of the year.

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