By Allison Grande '08

After the first eight matches of the season in which the Sarah Lawrence volleyball team vastly improved their skills and gained cohesiveness as a squad, Coach Kristy Mackiewicz's team reached an important turning point in their season during the Oct. 9 match vs. a powerful  Mt. St. Mary's (MSM) team at the Campbell Sports Center.

"We hadn't been playing up to our potential prior to that match,"  Mackiewicz said. "We had the skills, but not the team chemistry or the drive. [But during the MSM match], we played as a unit and achieved some really great things."

Even though the team lost the encounter  three games to zero, Mackiewicz said that "it didn't feel that way" because of the way the team continued to battle back and work together. Before the game began, Mackiewicz stressed the importance of going hard for every ball, not letting anything touch the ground without a fight, and making sure the team defended their home court.

In the first two games Sarah Lawrence showed their resiliency by scoring six straight points early in each stanza to overcome separate MSM leads. However, their opponent simply placed their balls perfectly as Sarah Lawrence fell in the first two games by scores of 30-19 and 30-18.

However, the third game of the night exhibited the Gryphons' true character. After falling behind again, SLC battled back to go ahead 30-29 and get within only one point of a game victory. However, they fell just short, losing 32-30.

This year's roster is bigger than ever, with Mackiewicz having to split the the team into a nine member Varsity and a seven member Novice squad. With the conference tournament nearing and the season almost over, Mackiewicz still believes the competition is far from over.

"This team has a lot of potential," she said. "We have a great opportunity to upset some of the teams in the tournament. If the team continues to play the way they did [at the MSM game], we are in a great position for the conference tournament."

Two players have received special recognition from the conference for their play in the past few weeks. First-year Mary Hempel was named Rookie of the Week for the week of September 30 while senior and captain Kathryn Scheirer captured an honor roll mention in the Player of the Week category during the week of September 16.

The team holds a 5-7 record going into their final three matches of the season, including a home match vs. Yeshiva on October 29 at 7:30 p.m. If the final week of the season proves to be a success, the team will compete for the conference tournament title on Saturday, November 3 at the Campbell Sports Center.

According to Mackiewicz, the ultimate goal of these last few matches, as has been the goal of the entire season, is to have the team "reach their potential and have fun while doing it."