OCU’s volleyball team won the SAC tournament semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
The games against Texas Wesleyan University were close, with the scores 21-25, 25-16, 29-27 and 25-20 leading to OCU’s victory.
Isabel Harwell, sophomore defense specialist/libero, said the tournament was a close call.
“The other team actually won the first game, and I think it took us aback at first. Then, in the third set, the score was 19-23, and we came back and won 29-27,” Harwell said.
Harwell said the third match was a big turning point for the game.
“When we won the third set, I think it made the team realize we could do this,” Harwell said.
Harwell said the tournament was very important to the volleyball team because winning it qualified the team for NAIA nationals.
Sophia Salak, sophomore setter, said the team has been practicing hard to prepare for this match.
“The team has been working really hard for this,” Salak said. “We don’t get days off.”
Harwell said the team practices every day for two hours, lifting weights on Monday and Wednesday and focusing on building skills during the other practices.
“Most practices start with drills focusing on technique, then we scrimmage against each other to push each other to be better,” Harwell said.
Salak said the next step is the championship.
“Normally, we would play in round one at the championship, but if you are ranked in the top 18 in the nation, you go straight to round two, and we are currently ranked as No. 18,” Salak said.
Harwell said the team leaves for nationals Dec. 1 and the tournament begins Dec. 3.
“At the championship, we will play three games, and if we win two out of three of the games, we will move on to the next round,” Harwell said.
Harwell said the team is really excited for this opportunity.
“Last year, our team did not win any of the three games, so this year we are really looking forward to the possibility of moving on to the next round,” Harwell said.
Both Harwell and Salak said their goals for the team involved winning.
“I want to make it to the final four, if not win the whole thing,” Salak said.
Harwell also said she has individual goals for the upcoming games.
“My personal goal is to try to get six digs to set for the next game and to not let any mistakes control how I play in the game and just moving on to the next ball,” Harwell said.
Kristen Coventon, head volleyball coach, said she knows the team can compete well against the top 25.
“We wanted to go undefeated in the conference and win the regular season conference title which we have done,” Coventon said.
Once the team finds out who they are playing, they will prepare by watching films from previous games those teams have played and try to see some tendencies of the specific teams.
“I don’t know that there’s a magic thing we can do to prepare ourselves; I just want the team to go out there and play hard,” Coventon said.
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