By sweeping Villanova and Rutgers at home over the weekend, the volleyball team kept alive its hope of qualifying for the Big East Conference tournament.
"This is the most confident they have been all year," said head coach Pati Rolf. "These two games are the best we've done as an entire team during the season."
The games ran both sides of the spectrum with the Golden Eagles picking up a 3-2 win over Villanova on Friday and defeating Rutgers on Sunday in three games.
Against Rutgers, the Golden Eagles out hit the Scarlet Knights in all three games, holding them to a hitting percentage under 20 percent three times while the Golden Eagles hit at 25 percent.
Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was sophomore outside hitter Kim Todd, who finished with 17 kills, junior outside hitter Jamie Mueller finished with 15, and senior outside hitter Theresa Coughlin had 11. Coughlin and Todd each finished with a double-double, tallying 12 and 14 digs.
On Friday, the Golden Eagles and Villanova went to the five-game limit, winning the first two matches, dropping the next two and then winning the match in the decisive fifth game after trailing Villanova 14-11.
"I looked up at the ceiling and said, 'Gosh what is happening?'" Rolf said. "I got nervous and at that point we needed to get that win and we got help from our own team and from Villanova."
Mueller was not nearly as worried as Rolf.
" We realized we weren't going to give up and we had so much heart and if we were going to go down we were going to go down hard," she said.
In the match the Golden Eagles out hit Villanova 20 percent to 12 percent. A total team effort, the team had four players with more than 10 kills and five with more than 10 digs.
The two wins this weekend bring the Golden Eagles to a 13-10 record on the season and a mark of 6-5 in the Big East. The team sits in eighth place in the conference, with the top eight teams making the tournament.
Where they are right now the Golden Eagles would have to play Notre Dame in first round action. The Fighting Irish are 10-0 in Big East play and defeated the Golden Eagles 3-1. The Fighting Irish and Louisville, which is second in conference, are two teams worth avoiding in the first round of the tournament.
Villanova currently has a record of 6-4 in conference, but the Golden Eagles hold the tie-breaker over them after defeating them this past weekend.
"We are trying to push our way up to the fifth or sixth slots in the tournament to try to stay away from Notre Dame and Louisville," Rolf said.
Before taking on Seton Hall on Friday in its final home game, the team travels across the city to face Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers come into tonight's game with a record of 17-7 and a record of 9-2 in the Horizon League. The team is in first place in the Horizon League.
This game might not have any pull on conference records but it is a big game nonetheless, according to Rolf.
"We approach these games the same way especially with a cross-town rival, it is almost like a conference game," she said. "It is important for us to stay in a rhythm because this team is more of a match team than a practice team. It is very important for us to stay in our rhythm."