Sophomore Taylor Olden reaches for a spike against Morehead State last Saturday.
The volleyball team was swept in all three sets against Morehead State on Saturday, giving the team its third loss in a row and reducing its overall record to 11-7.
Head Coach David Schwepker said the game was not the team’s best effort.
“We just had a couple girls that had really bad games,” Schwepker said. “It was probably the worst game of our season.”
Schwepker said after watching this game, there are many things the Racers need to improve, including passing, hitting, blocking and the team’s defense.
The last three games for the Racers have all been OVC losses.
Schwepker said he thinks the team is more threatened by conference game play than any nonconference team it has faced this season.
“I definitely think they play differently,” Schwepker said. “I think the girls put more pressure on themselves and forget about what we’ve been working on. They psych themselves out before they even get out there and play.”
The Racers are a young team composed of all freshmen and sophomores except for the lone senior on the roster, Katlyn Hudson.
Freshman Kamille Jones (No. 5), from Fort Worth, Texas, successfully spikes for the Racers.
Schwepker said many of the issues that the team has goes along with being a younger team.
“When you have this young of a team, they don’t know how to handle themselves in these kind of pressured situations,” Schwepker said.
Up next for the Racers are back-to-back conference games against Southeastern Missouri University and UT Martin. Both teams are conference rivals for the Racers.
Despite the rivalry, Schwepker said he never looks at how the Racers have competed against these teams in the past. He said he and the Racers only worry about their own side of the court.
“All we try to do is get ourselves better,” Schwepker said. “Bottom line is we have to get out there and we have to do our thing.”
The Racers have traveled to their last three losing matches. This time, they will have home court advantage where they will face UT Martin at 7 p.m. tonight and SEMO at 2 p.m on Saturday both in Racer Arena.
Story Taylor Crum, Staff Writer