Volleyball brings home a win

The PUC women’s volleyball team notched a win in their home opener on Aug. 29.

The team, now in its third year, struggled during its first two seasons, facing a lot of the inexperience and growing pains that a new program faces. The players are hoping to put those first few seasons behind them, taking them as a learning experience, and move forward with a newfound optimism.

“We got a bright future ahead of us,” outside hitter Catherine Yoder said.

The team started the season at the Illinois Tech Kickoff tournament on Aug. 24 and 25. The team dropped three matches by 3-1, 3-0 and 3-0 and was thus forced to forfeit a fourth match.

After the tournament, however, the team pulled it together.

The team traveled to IU Kokomo on Aug. 28 and played a close match. They won the first set 25-23, but were beaten in the second 25-15. They regrouped in the third set for a decisive 25-15 win.

In the fourth set, their opponents won 25-18 to tie things up again. In a close fifth set, PUC pulled a 15-13 win, taking it and the match for their first win of the season.

PUC returned to Hammond the next night, taking on Indiana University Northwest in their first home match of the season.

The first set started close, eventually tied at 8-8, until PUC went on a run to make it 18-8. IUN closed the gap a bit, but PUC still had enough to win 25-18.

The second set was a close one as well, with IUN spending most of the time up by a few points.  PUC came close but never caught up, dropping the set 25-22 and tying things up.

PUC responded strongly in the third set, winning by a dominant 25-11. IUN tried to counter in the fourth but was just no match for the surging PUC ladies, who won the set 25-14, and with it the match.

The game saw some incredible volleys, in which players made incredible moves to keep the ball off of the floor.  Most of these went in PUC’s favor.  The team attributes this skill to good communication on the court during all the action.

“We did a lot of talking toward the end [after the second set],” Yoder said.  “It helps us tremendously.”  Yoder led the team with five blocks.

The team takes on Purdue North Central on Sept. 4.  They return home to face Trinity Christian on Sept. 11.