Heading into the final games of regular season play, the Spartan volleyball team was on the brink of clinching the Sunshine State Conference Title.
“The night before we played Lynn, Rollins beat Barry, giving them their fourth loss. That meant that if we beat Lynn, we knew we would win the SSC Championship and we responded very well,” said Coach Catanach about last weekend.
Taking control of their destiny, the team beat Lynn University, winning the SSC championship with two games left to spare.
“We are going to play to win those games. You never want to go into an NCAA tournament losing any of the last matches,” said Catanach.
Eventhough the last two games of the regular season won’t technically change anything in the standings, Catanach wants the team to stay motivated and not lose focus.
“We met our first goal, now I am going to remind them how much maturity it takes to stay focused. The difference between us and other teams is our maturity,” he said.
Coach Catanach gave the team Monday off in order to get extra rest before what promises to be an exciting few weeks ahead.
“Normally every Sunday is their day of rest, but this week they got Monday too, to physically recover,” the coach said.
The team has only two games remaining, both at home. This Friday they play Nova Southeastern and finish the regular season with senior night on Saturday against Barry.
The Spartans won the first match against both opponents, but it took them five sets to do so.
In fact, the last time it took the Spartans five sets to win a match was over a month ago against Nova Southeastern. UT has played nine games since then.
Saturday should be an extremely emotional night for seniors Melissa Vanderhall, Sam Macks, Meghan Sherman and Kaleigh Cunningham. Those four student athletes have come far from their freshman season and are four key components of this year’s team.
“Saturday is going to be very emotional. It’s nice to not have all the added pressure to win because we already won the SSC. The girls will just go out and play,” said Catanach.
Catanach went on to explain that the team is just focused on regionals for now, although he believes the Spartans may be capable of attaining a national championship level of play.
“Our eyes are set on hosting and winning the region now. I’m hoping our peak has started, but will not completely arrive for a little bit,” he said.
“We’re starting to show signs of being a championship level team. This year the regionals are much more balanced. The [one through six] seeds will all be exceptionally good. Hosting is very important, who we draw will also be a key factor. Then we just have to come out and perform.”
The team has not lost focus thus far. Six of their last seven wins have been complete shutouts. After this Saturday’s senior night, the team will be off until regionals, which start Nov. 18.
John Hilsenroth can be reached at jhilsenroth@spartans.ut.edu.