By Ryan Maloney, assistant women's volleyball coach
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| Head Coach Geoff Braun during an October match against Ithaca |
The team had just lost their fifth conference match to Oswego and was now in danger of not making the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.
"The team was clearly struggling and we needed to get to the bottom of it before playing on Saturday," Braun said. "As a coach you assume that the athletes are having these conversations by themselves during practice, in the locker room or between sets, but it was becoming more apparent to me that these conversations, or at least genuine ones, weren't taking place."
After several teary-eyed players talked about expectations, accountability and their desire to make post-season, sophomore Kristen Stanek spoke up. She expressed how lucky they all were to play on a team that felt like a family. She had friends at other colleges who, despite success on the court, were not enjoying their teammates or the experience. She was adamant that she wouldn't want to play college volleyball anywhere else.
"I think we are so lucky to be a part of this team," Stanek said recalling the meeting. "Not every team can say they have a group of girls they would call their sisters and best friends. I've never been able to say that before. These girls are like family to me."
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| Celebration after match point against Rochester on Oct. 30 |
The challenge since then has been for the team to translate that cohesiveness onto the court for SUNYAC Playoffs. The Blue Devils enter the SUNYAC Tournament on Friday as the No. 6 seed after finishing with a 4-5 conference record. An 0-3 SUNYAC weekend on Oct. 9 and 10 is largely to blame for the lower than expected record.
Outside observers have blamed the lackluster conference record on injuries to starting players, but several of the team's reserve players are talented enough to make up for the loss. In Braun's mind, it has much more to do with the team's confidence being rattled at that point in the season.
"It's always difficult to fight through adversity when your confidence is low," Braun said. "Lack of confidence was a major contributing factor to the outcome that weekend."
The Saturday after the late-night hotel meeting, the Blue Devils pulled through with wins against Potsdam and Geneseo to slip into the sixth playoff spot. The first match of the SUNYAC Tournament on Friday will again be against No. 3 Oswego, the same team that almost ended their season two weeks ago.
"Since that last SUNYAC weekend we've been building our confidence," Braun said. "It's never an instant change, but we were very strong that Saturday against Geneseo to get into the playoffs, and we pulled a lot of positives out of this past weekend against strong competition."
Though they did not expect to be the six seed heading into playoffs, being in the SUNYAC Tournament this year gives any team a chance to win a title. No. 1 Brockport finished the year with a 9-0 conference record, though they just inched by No. 2 New Paltz in a five-set win. Fredonia lost a similarly close match to New Paltz in September in five sets, and lost to Brockport 1-3 in October.
The winner of this year's SUNYAC title will undoubtedly face adversity along the way. The Blue Devils hope they've had the most experience in that area.
Note - a version of this article will appear on the main athletics website: fredoniabluedevils.com