By Mike Henken Staff writer
The Susquehanna women’s volleyball team defeated Randolph-Macon 3-1 and Clarkson 3-0 to close out its regular season on Oct. 28 and 29 at the Emory Tournament.
The team finished the regular season with a 30-6 overall record and will now head into the Landmark Conference playoffs.
The River Hawks were able to topple Randolph-Macon, the second-ranked team in the South Region, in four sets.
In the opening set, Susquehanna quickly jumped ahead on a serving ace from senior setter Maggie O’Hearn.
The team held this lead until Randolph-Macon tied the set at 14 on an attacking error. The two teams then battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the set before a kill by junior outside hitter Morgan Lowe gave the River Hawks a 26-24 victory.
The second set ended in similar fashion, as a kill from senior outside hitter Marykate Sherkness followed by a Yellow Jacket attacking error gave Susquehanna another 26-24 victory.
The two teams were once again neck-and-neck in the third set until back-to-back kills from Randolph-Macon gave the team its first set of the match.
In the final set, the River Hawks bounced back and led from start to finish, beating the Yellow Jackets 25-17.
Susquehanna was led by Sherkness, who tallied 20 total kills, while Lowe added 17 and senior setter Erin Byrne had 11.
Lowe and O’Hearn both had double-doubles, while freshman outside hitter Caroline Beohm led the River Hawks with 25 digs.
Against Clarkson, the seventh-ranked team in the New York region, Susquehanna proved to be more dominant, beating the Golden Knights in three sets.
In the opening set, Susquehanna jumped to an 8-1 start that eventually led to a 25-11 win.
The second set was a bit closer, although the River Hawks held the lead throughout the match after it was initially tied at two, ultimately winning 25-19.
The River Hawks went down 2-0 in the third and final set before a kill from Byrne and a Clarkson attacking error knotted the match up. Susquehanna then went up 5-4 and never looked back, finishing off the Golden Knights by a score of 25-20.
Sherkness once again led the team with 12 kills, while Lowe added 11 and Byrne had 10. O’Hearn also finished with another double-double.
Head Coach Tom Kuuipo was pleased with not only the team’s performance in the tournament, but in the regular season as a whole, although he did admit that there were a few difficulties along the way.
“This entire season’s schedule was created to set us up for a final weekend of very tough competition knowing that we needed to be prepared for the postseason,” he said.
“The season has been very good so far,” Kuuipo added. “We’ve won a lot of matches, but we truly should have won a few more. The team started off a little unbalanced as we were trying to fit the pieces together.
Once we got things balanced out, we were able to become quite successful and enjoyed several long winning streaks.”
Susquehanna beat Catholic in a Landmark Conference semifinal match on Nov. 2. The River Hawks cruised to a 3-0 win over the Cardinals.
Each set was a hard fought victory, with the River Hawks winning, 26-24, 25-23, and 25- 18 respectively.
The first set of the game went back and forth, with the teams finding themselves tied 12 times in the set.
Susquehanna took a 9-4 lead in the third set, and they did not look back, putting the match away.
Lowe took over once again, racking up 20 kills as well as 10 digs in the match.
The River Hawks will take on the Eagles of Juniata on Nov. 5 in the conference final.
Kuuipo said that the team must be ready to adapt against the Eagles.
“When you compete at the level that our volleyball team does, there is very little that our opponents don’t know about us,” he said. “So, much like the survival story of wolves, you have to adapt; you can’t take the same path every time.”
