Volleyball season ends Sunday

The Mustangs end the regular season at 2 p.m. Sunday as they host the Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech. That match will be played in Moody Coliseum and the two Mustang seniors Leslie Lasiter and Kristen Peterson will be recognized.

The Mustangs broke their winning streak against the University of Texas at El Paso on Saturday night. The Miners took three straight games after the Mustangs battled to win the first.

It was an upsetting loss for the team for a few reasons. Senior libero, Kristen Peterson, who had 21 digs in the match, said that the team played hard and it was obvious the team never wanted to lose.

“All of the games were real close,” Peterson said. “But the whole time it felt like we were trying to catch up to them.”

Katy Moffet, a junior outside hitter, thought that the team simply did not play up to its potential. She says the best way to rebound from the loss would be to take it out on Rice, something they failed to do.

Despite the defeat to both teams had almost equal statistics in kills and digs.

The team lost a five-game decision to Rice Wednesday night. The Mustangs fall to 11-16 overall and 5-7 in the WAC. Rice moves to 17-12 and 7-5.

With only one game left, the most important issue at hand is to finish the season strong with a win.

A win would allow the team to receive a good seating in the WAC Tournament. Peterson thinks that the team will be seeded low but that can be an advantage. She wants to see the team go as far as it can.

“If we play teams in a lower seed then we have a good chance of winning,” Peterson said. “Everything starts over in the tournament.”

Moffet says that in addition to getting a good placement in the finals, she hopes that the seniors will have a good rest of the year.

“I want them to feel good about the season and their career at SMU. They should not have to look back and wonder ‘what if,'” Moffet said.

The volleyball team has come a long way this season. All players agree that it was hard to make the adjustment at first to a new, younger team.

Earlier in the season the team struggled to learn how to work together. This was a new challenge for a team that was generally used to winning in the past Peterson said.

The problem, she said, lay in the team being overcome with the desire to win. It was focusing more on beating their opponent rather than playing smart, working hard and learning together.

“As a team today we are more cohesive,” Moffet said. “We hold each other up and are more accountable as a team for what happens on the court.”

The players encourage everyone to come support them because it is a really exciting game to watch. College volleyball is on a completely different level than high school or middle school volleyball according to the players.

The Mustangs play their last game, which is senior night, at home on Sunday against Louisiana Tech.