Last week, the University of Tampa women’s volleyball dropped their first game of the season in a 5-set heart-breaker to Eckerd College. The game was hard-fought by both sides, but Eckerd proved to be too much for the visiting Spartans to handle.
“At that point, we were just winning games. We weren’t rolling by any means,” Coach Chris Catanach said. “It’s going to happen against a good team like that. They exposed some things in us.”
Specifically, the Eckerd Tritons exposed a sense of complacency that the Spartans had developed over their 24-0 run. Catanach believes it’s better to lose now. If they lose in the Regionals or the National tournament, there isn’t any time to re-focus.
The AVCA, or the Coaches’ Poll for the best D-II volleyball teams in the nation had the Spartans as #1 before their loss. They are now sitting at #5.
“It’s a coaches’ poll,” Catanach said. “It’s not based on any real system, but it’s nice to see the top-tier teams grouped together.”
Regionals and the National tournament are coming up soon. However, the Spartans began a three-game home stand on November 3rd. After losing a conference game to Eckerd, Tampa needed to win out over the weekend and then beat Rollins on November 9th to secure the Sunshine State Conference.
On Thursday the 3rd, the Spartans handily defeated the visiting University of North Alabama.
All systems were clicking; serving was solid, the digs were there, and Jessica Yingling was shining again. She led the team in kills with 13.
“Jessica is kind of a stabilizer,” said Catanach. “She keeps things balanced, she’s not likely to go out there and have 20 kills in a match.”
Thirteen kills is close. The game against North Alabama wasn’t a conference matchup, but a regional one, which could have an effect on the seeding in the regional tournament.
“The tournament is all regionally based,” Catanach said. “Teams like North Alabama are in our region, so we play them and try to secure the top spot in the region.”
The top spot in the region is a huge advantage for the Spartans. Being seeded first out of eight in a regional tournament means the Spartans would host the tournament. That means many things to Coach Catanach.
“Well, there’s no travel,” he said. “That’s a lot of pressure off the girls right away. It’s a big advantage, keeping them in their comfort zone.”
On Friday night, game two of the Spartans’ triple-header, UT stomped Nova Southeastern 3-1.
Eight members of the team recorded at least five kills, including Danielle Selkridge, Yingling, Brianne Yeates, and Eva Dupay. Production from all of them has grown considerably over the season.
“Eva’s a spark plug,” Catanach said, laughing. “She’s a big contributor and she can fire the whole team up. She’s a ‘tear your head off’ kind of player.” Finally on Saturday, to round out their three game stand, the Spartans shut the door quickly on a spunky Florida Tech team.
Their record stands at an impressive 26-1, and 14-1 in conference play. Saturday night, the Spartans won at least a share of the SSC title. They still have November 9th’s game against Rollins.
If they pull that off, they win the title outright.
“We need to win against Rollins on Wednesday,” middle-hitter Danielle Selkridge said. “Once we do that, we win the title outright.”
After that conference title win, the Spartans will have their eyes set on Regionals.
“We went 3-0 this weekend,” libero Julie Howlett said. “We win again on Wednesday, and we win the conference and there’s about a 99% chance we top the region and host the tournament.”
Howlett has been an important contributor all season. Because she plays on the back line, she doesn’t always seem as glamorous as others; no big kill numbers or block numbers.
But as the team’s libero, she captains the team on the court.
“Julie goes unnoticed,” Catanach said. “She is, without a doubt, one of our top players.”
The Spartans have rebounded well from their close loss to Eckerd College, and are one win away from sole ownership of their 7th straight SSC title.
With all of the pieces in position to take the Spartans deep into the postseason, Catanach seems comfortable. Selkridge, Yeates, Yingling, Dupay and Howlett are all healthy, and are hungry for more success this season.
Greg Spracklin can be reached at gspracklin@spartans.ut.edu.