While the 49ers had an 8-2 lead in blocks, the Golden Eagles hit a season high 33.3 percent. In addition, the team held a 54-32 advantage in the dig department.
Leading the way for the team was sophomore Theresa Coughlin who had 13 attacks and senior Ann Lopata, who finished with 12. Junior Sarah Vernon led the team in digs with 13 while junior Erin Freer finished the match with 10.
The following night, the Golden Eagles hosted conference opponent East Carolina which is 8-12 (0-3). After four games the team came out with the victory with scores of 30-20, 24-30, 30-20 and 30-25.
The Golden Eagles finished the match owning a 31.2 attack percentage opposed to East Carolina’s 23.6 percent. The team also came out of the match with a higher dig total, finishing with 48-41 advantage, while the Pirates maintained a 12-10 advantage in terms of blocks.
In both games this weekend, the Golden Eagles trailed in the block department to their opponents, but according to Lopata, they were able to make it up in other parts of the game.
“Though we trailed in blocks, we were able to make up for it with our defense,” Lopata said. “When you are not getting blocks you have to have good defense and we had that.”
In earning the two wins this weekend, coach Pati Rolf felt that the key to the victories was ball control, along with several other factors.
“We just had great ball control this weekend, in addition to our serving, which was also a critical part of our success this weekend,” Rolf said. “Our passing was also very good this weekend along with our defense. We also had a great level of intensity this weekend with the exception of (the one loss to East Carolina).”
Leading the way for the Golden Eagles Saturday was Coughlin, who finished with 23 attacks. Along with Coughlin, Lopata and Freer also finished the match with double digit kills.
The two conference victories this weekend evened the Golden Eagle’s conference record to 2-2 and 5-12 overall.
Rolf feels that the conference record of 2-2 is the record the team is concerned about right now.
“We feel that as of right now that our record is 2-2,” Rolf said. “The first part of the season is over. The reality is our conference season has started and we are concerned about conference play right now.”
Next weekend the team will try to ride its momentum in road matches versus Tulane and Southern Mississippi.
“It helped out being at home with the great crowd atmosphere this weekend, but we need to carry this momentum with us on the road,” Lopata said.
Trying to build on the wins from last weekend, Rolf knows what the team needs to do to be successful on the road.
“What we hope to carry out next weekend is the intensity,” Rolf said. “Being on the road will be a little bit of a distraction, but normally we do pretty well on the road so I am not too worried about that.”