The Wolf Pack volleyball team extended their winning streak to six games this weekend after defeating Southern States Athletic Conference foes Point University in straight sets and Life University three sets to one.
The streak represents a shift in the fortunes for the Pack, who started the season winning only one of their first ten games.
“It’s been nice to have this win streak,” head coach Jesse Zabal said after the game against Life. “We feel a little bit new this year, in terms of who’s on the court, but I think we’ve entered a phase now where we know who we are now as a group and we can lean on that identity more.”
The team clinched their sixth game in a row after a contest with Life that saw them drop the first set, but sweep the next three sets.
“I think we really did a good job at the service line today,” Zabal said. “The team did a really good job of hitting the zones we wanted to hit and keeping Life out of their system, which made life a little bit easier for us defensively.”
After their difficult start to the season, Coach Zabal said it was a matter of the team making sure they trusted their skills and abilities and regained their confidence.
“I think it just took us some time to rebuild our confidence, honestly,” she said. “It was tough to start our season with a lot of tough teams and lose the games we did, and it’s hard to not lose some confidence in those moments, regardless of who you’re playing, but I think we’re really trusting each other on the court now.”
Zabal hopes the momentum the team has now can carry them into the end of the season as they prepare for the conference and national tournaments.
“We’re going to keep focusing on improving the little things the rest of the way,” she said. “Our weekly practices tend to be really focused on whoever our upcoming opponents are, but when we do focus on our side of the court, we focus on a lot of the little things, like communication, and making sure we’re good at those things. So we’ll be pushing that in practice and ensuring that we stick to that for the rest of the year.”
The Wolf Pack will play their last home games in the Den on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 against SSAC foes Blue Mountain Christian and Tennessee Southern before they close the regular season on the road with games against the University of Mobile (Nov. 2) and William Carey University (Nov. 9)
