The Geneseo volleyball team has been progressing in the right direction with a 3-2 win over Alfred State College on Saturday Oct. 3. The Knights came out firing on all cylinders, with senior middle Paige Pendleton and junior outside hitter Tricia Baxley having 11 and 10 kills respectively. Junior defensive specialist Danielle Sayler recorded 15 digs on the day, while freshman setter Sarah Bain added 12 digs. Head coach Amber Dunn was confident in her team’s style of play and preached that this was the start of something positive.
“I am happy with how we finished this weekend, but never satisfied,” Dunn said. “There is plenty of business to take care of yet for this season and that includes two more SUNYAC weekends, one of which we host in late October. We will continue to work hard and get better in hopes to continue competing.”
The Knights finished the weekend 1-1, with their loss coming to host team Houghton College 3-1. Geneseo was down 2-0 before stealing away the third game 25-18, although they ultimately lost the final set 25-21. Geneseo got another huge contribution from Sayler and Bain, each putting in double digit digs in the losing effort.
Geneseo will try to rebound effectively the rest of the season by producing more wins. They finished last season with a record of 18-9—not bad for a team considered to be on the up and up the past few seasons. With 15 games left in the regular season—and optimistically more postseason games to follow—they will look to make a push toward their first SUNYAC title.
Dunn is no outsider to successful teams. When she was an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point, the team went to three straight NCAA Tournaments—including back-to-back Final Fours. In the 2013 season, her team had an overall record of 35-5. With this being Dunn’s first experience in the SUNYAC, she had high praise for her competitors.
“I think the SUNYAC overall will be a competitive year,” Dunn said. “It is too early to tell where things will pan out, but I plan to continue to challenge my team to be better in hopes that it will set us up for success as we push through October.”
With the season winding down, the Knights will look for upperclassmen contributions to lead the team into the SUNYAC Tournament. This team has the potential to not only make history, but also to leave its mark on the rest of the conference.