Volleyball Turns The Tide
Call it the feel-good story of the fall. The volleyball team
went 14-15 this season, after winning only 14 matches during
the previous five years combined. The Shorewomen, who won at
least 10 matches in season for the first time since 1994, won
their first five matches of the year to record their best start
in a quarter-century.
First-year head coach Louie Richardson led his team to several
historic victories. A seven-match losing streak to Mary Washington
came to an end in Washington’s season-opener. A 12-match
losing streak to Goucher came to an end on September 7 and a
pair of nine-match losing streaks, to St. Mary’s and McDaniel,
both bit the dust at the Maryland Division III Tournament on
September 18. All four of those wins were three-game sweeps
in favor of the Shorewomen.
Seven of the Shorewomen’s top eight players had all endured
some of the tough seasons of the recent past, but the team was
not discouraged heading into the 2004 season and everything
seemed to fall into place. “The team showed up ready to
play from day one,” remarked Richardson. “They always
wanted to practice. They picked each other up all the time.
I know the old saying ‘there is no I in team’ and
I truly felt that with this team.”
Sophomore setter Laura Shand recorded four triple-doubles and
became the first Washington College volleyball player to earn
Centennial Conference Player of the Week honors since 1998.
Junior outside hitters Abigail Benson and Lauren Ford, junior
middle hitter Marcie McConville, sophomore middle hitter Nanna
Kozemchak, and sophomore libero Kim Dannenfelser all enjoyed
career years. Outside hitter Laura Greenback, the team’s
only senior, returned to the team after a hiatus in 2003 and
made a valuable contribution. Freshman middle hitter Katherine
O’Brien emerged as one of the team’s top hitters.
“This season was a huge turnaround for this team, not
just in how many wins we had, but that we learned how to play
together and to play as a team, and that is why we started winning
games,” commented Ford, one of the team’s two captains.
“It was a great feeling to have the type of season
that we did,” added Dannenfelser, the team’s other
captain. “The team worked extremely hard to improve and
strengthen our skills so that we could have a winning season.
The hard work and determination of the team definitely paid
off in an amazing season.”
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