The West Chester Golden Ram women’s volleyball team started their 2014-2015 campaign opening with their home tournament, Ram Fest. Their first match of the season was played against the Notre Dame College Falcons. West Chester swept the Falcons three sets to none to claim their first victory of the year. Brynne Taylor posted a team-high 13 kills supported by Julia O’Brien’s 10. The convincing victory can really be shown by the hitting percentage. The Lady Rams posted an outstanding .191 hitting percentage, while holding the Falcons to just a .106 percentage. Cara Reese had a promising return to the court, with six blocks and six kills, and Annalee Halbert, who also returned from a season-ending injury this year, notched team best 20 digs and 30 assists in her usual role as setter.
The Lady Rams entered day two of the tournament fired up and ready to go. Taking the courts in Hollinger field house was visiting Davis & Elkins Senators. The Senators put up a great fight, but came up short on all three matches with the Rams. WCU survived a big scare in the second match, erasing a late five-point deficit for a 31-29 win in that set. The Lady Rams hit just .191 for the match. However, their percentage improved drastically, finishing the final set at .381 with only three errors. Freshman Macon Frey stepped up as the Ram’s’main setter Saturday morning, leading the team with 17 spectacular sets. WCU continued their relentless defense throughout the match. Their ten team blocks led the way, breaking the Senators down and holding them to a .036 hitting average for the match.
The fate of the next team to step on the court with the fearsome hometown girls was no different from the other teams that stepped up before them. Philadelphia would be the only team to take a set over West Chester. Taylor would record eight stellar kills in the win. Helping out was the setting duo of Frey and Halbert, with 36 sets combined. Callie Krajcir led the squad with 22 digs and Victoria Cruciani would record seven blocks. The purple and gold would go on to be the only undefeated team in the tournament and take the crown. In a preseason interview, O’Brien stated, “This year we have a lot of freshmen who will probably make an immediate impact.” The freshmen played a huge role in this home tournament, helping the team in any way they could.
On Tuesday, The Golden Rams will pack up and head to Chestnut Hill College to take on the Griffins. With a record of one win and three loses on the season, the Griffins are going to come out ready to play. With this match being the Chestnut Hill’s home opener and WCU’s first game away from home, one can only wonder how that will affect the quality of the play we will see from both sides. Last year, the Rams won the match against the Griffins with a clean sweep of 3-0. West Chester will look to hold their undefeated status and have a similar result as they did last year.
Bryce Livers is a second-year student majoring in communications. He can be reached at BL810873@wcupa.edu