By Brandon Cruz
The Panthers Men’s Volleyball team won one out of two games on March 7, against the New Jersey City Gothic Knights and the Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins, improving to an 11-10 record.
In the first game, the Panthers lost 3-1 against the Gothic Knights. Sophomore Channing Williams led the Panthers with 19 kills and 21 points. For the Gothic Knights, sophomore Marcus Pardasie led both teams with a game-high 24 kills and 28 points.
“Off rip, we just have to go for it,” junior Alex Casias said. Casias led the Gothic Knights with 46 assists. “Rather than taking our time and adjusting to everyone else, we just have to go guns blazing.”
With the two wins, the Gothic Knights improved to 11-7 on the year and 5-2 on the road. Head Coach Carlo Edra credits their road success to basic warm-ups.
“It’s just coming off the bus and warming up a little more seriously,” Edra said. “Whenever there’s a slow start, or guys are not coming off the bus well, it’s because we’re not taking warm-ups as seriously as we should.”
“Those bus rides are the opposite of preparing you for a game,” Pardasie said. “They drain you. Getting out of it read mentally and physically helps a lot.”
In the second game, the Panthers beat the Dolphins 3-1. Freshman Ayden Mercado led the Panthers with 23 assists, while junior Tyler Ryan tallied 12 kills and eight digs.
“We have to be more together as a team,” Ryan said. “The first set, we weren’t together at all, and we lost that. But once we came together as a unit, there was no stopping us.”
While he liked what he saw from his team, Dolphins Head Coach Jeremiah Huntt drew attention to consistency.
“We definitely spread the ball around really well,” Huntt said. “We were doing a lot of stuff well, but we have to be able to do it consistently and go on runs. Volleyball is a game of runs, so it’s important that when we’re up, we keep the lead, and when we’re down, we get back in it.”
“We could’ve communicated better,” senior Olatomiwa Ibitayo for the Dolphins said. “There were times where there was lots of noise on the court, and we knew what was happening and we knew what we wanted. There was fantastic communication when it was happening, but there were times where we died.”
With the two losses, the Dolphins moved to 3-11 on the year. Coach Huntt wants the team to work up towards bigger accomplishments and be patient.
“We have the talent,” Huntt said. “We have to be confident in that, and do the little things well. We can’t win big games or big points until we do the little things well. So we just keep hustling in practice and honing in on those things.”
Panthers Head Coach Dean Bennett pointed out some of the differences the team made and gave a statement of confidence regarding the team’s abilities.
“A few differences were just the urgency and us being confident,” Bennett said. “We can measure up to any team we play against. Once we recognize we have a team’s number, we’re going to roll with the punches and try to give them all we got.”
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