Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 8, 2006

With new potential stars emerging every week, the future is looking up for the Georgetown women’s volleyball team, even if it has taken its early season lumps. Georgetown (2-4) competed last weekend at the Jefferson Cup at the University of Virginia Cavaliers. There they dropped matches to the Cavaliers (5-1) on Friday and to Eastern Carolina Pirates (4-3) on Saturday, but did manage a 3-1 win over the Wright State Raiders (1-6), traditionally a top team in the Horizon League. Even more impressive than the victory over Wright State was the resolve Georgetown showed against Virginia, a match in which the Hoyas faced a 10-1 point deficit in the first game but managed to push the final game to 32-30. “What that [match] tells me is the Hoyas are in for a pretty good season,” Head Coach Arlisa Hagan said. “We are competing with some really good competition. I think that much later in the season, there would be a different outcome. But obviously the highlight of the weekend was beating Wright State.” Against Virginia, senior middle blocker Annie Connor began what would become a great tournament for her individually. She led the Hoyas in blocks during the tournament with 15 and impressed Hagan. “One player that didn’t make the all-tournament team but I think should have was Annie Connor,” Hagan said. In the first game of the match with UVA, Georgetown was quickly overpowered by stellar serving and met a 10-1 deficit that turned into a 30-20 loss. The next two games were progressively closer, as the Cavaliers dealt the Hoyas 30-24 and 32-30 defeats. In their second game of the tournament, this time against Eastern Carolina, the Hoyas lost another close match (22-30, 30-22, 30-27, 30-20). Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Buffum and freshman outside hitter Jessica Hardy turned in stellar performances, tallying 19 and 17 kills each in the loss. Hardy impressed coach Hagan the most with her on-point passing. “This weekend, Jess Hardy played lights out. She was right there, neck and neck, with Jess Buffum,” Hagan said. Three players have emerged in the last two weeks as go-to players – Buffum, freshman Kortney Robinson and Hardy – and Hagan expects the rest of the team to develop as the level of competition rises. “Last weekend it was Kortney, this weekend it was Jessica Hardy, next weekend who knows, it’s going to be Kirsten McCoy, Courtney Cohen or Dana Dumas,” she said. In the final game of the tournament against Wright State, Georgetown picked up its second win of the season as Buffum led the way. She led all players with her 22 kills (her most ever as a Hoya) and also turned in an impressive 16 digs, four assists and three blocks. Jessica George also put her name on Hagan’s short lists with 14 kills and six blocks. “Every match, I am pleasantly surprised with another player who steps up and makes this team better,” Hagan said. Hagan’s new, more rigorous approach is already paying dividends; Georgetown is on pace to easily eclipse last year’s 6-22 mark. The Hoyas play host to the Georgetown Classic tournament against Campbell tonight at 7 p.m. and against Howard and Coastal Carolina on Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., respectively. On the horizon lies an even stiffer challenge: a trip to California for the Stanford Invitational where three of the biggest names in college volleyball, Stanford, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara wait to play Hagan’s young Hoyas.