California Lutheran University’s women’s volleyball team swept DePauw University this past Thursday (25-19, 25-20, and 25-15).
Head Coach Kellee Roesel said she felt her team came into this matchup with a sense of urgency by doing all the little things.
“We were firing on all cylinders, there’s not a whole lot of things I thought we didn’t do well, to be honest, against a really good team that I think is in first place in their conference, came in second place, and 16-3 right now,” Roesel said.
Roesel said her team got the job done on the defensive side of the ball and matched up well against the other team’s players.
“I thought our setters did a great job with matchups, distribution and I thought our defense was pretty on point,” Roesel said.
Fifth-year middle blocker Kira Mortensen said the collective team effort is what the team needed to be successful Thursday night.
“I think our team just played as a team. We did our best and did what we planned to do and that’s always successful obviously,” Mortensen said.
With 10 kills for Mortensen, she said people can expect the team to build on tonight’s success heading into its upcoming games.
“I think we’re gonna take this win and just keep rolling. Volleyball is all about momentum so, it’s really good to come with a sweep into these next more important games and just keep rolling…momentum, momentum.” Mortensen said.
Junior right-side hitter Caitlin Murphy who recorded nine kills in Thursday night’s game said the Regals’ win against DePauw gave the team a boost of confidence in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“I think it was probably one of our best performances of the season. I think coming off of two wins from against Caltech and Oxy, we had a lot of confidence,” Murphy said. “But beating a team like Depauw, it was pretty solid. I think gives us a lot more confidence for the rest of SCIAC cause we’ve got our second round coming and I think we’ve got everything we need to be a powerhouse team.”
Murphy said the team goal is to play with unity.
“Team goals is just playing our game. We talk about playing CLU volleyball through and through for three sets cause that’s all we need, but it’s just a lot of sisterhood and a lot of love and I think you can see that on the court and off the court as well. Our bench is crazy but that’s just what we do,” Murphy said. “We love each other and we fight through hard battles and we’re gonna keep doing that for the rest of the season.”
The Regals will be on the road to face the University of La Verne Leopards on Friday, Oct. 25.
