Volleyball beats Sam Houston St., ends seven-game losing skid

The Mustang volleyball team finally broke its seven-game losingstreak Wednesday night with a 3-0 victory [30-22, 30-22, 32-30]over the Sam Houston State Bearkats.

The win was twice as sweet since it was in Moody Coliseum.

The second half of the season has been disappointing for theMustangs, who expected to be much more competitive this year, buthave ended up with a 3-8 record in the WAC. The team’soverall record did improve to 10-12 after Wednesday’s win,and the players and coaches are choosing to ride the win to a morepositive outlook for the remainder of the season.

“Stress relief,” Head Coach Lisa Seifert said ofwhat the win meant to the team. “It means everything rightnow. I mean, we’ve been basically fighting demons for thelast month and a half, and it’s just good to get a win eventhough some parts of it weren’t pretty. I’ll nevercomplain about it. We won in three, and that’s the best part.We had to hang on there in the third, but we did and we came outwith it. So I’m really proud of the kids.”

Freshman outside hitter Rachel Giubilato had a big part in theMustang’s success, hitting an impressive .613 percent.Giubilato entered the rotation in the middle of the season and hasbeen steadily improving to be a stronghold on both the offensiveand defensive sides of the net for SMU. She also had seven digs onthe night.

“You just have your nights, you know?” Giubilatosaid of her stellar hitting performance Wednesday. “This ishow I should be playing all the time. I’m not playing mynormal position so being out of position is hard, getting used toit. Now I’m finally used to it, and I can work onit.”

Other keys to the Mustang ‘W’ were junior setterJessica Mihm and the always-vital play of senior outside hitterBeth Karasek.

Mihm hit .231 percent and continually threw the Bearkats offwith a behind the head dump to vacant spots on the opposing side ofthe court. She controlled the court incredibly well, athleticallyadjusting her body in midair to place the ball in just the rightspot on the net for her hitters to put it away.

Karasek hit .295 and had yet another double-double with 18 killsand 22 digs. She’s only missed a double-double once thisseason.

“In my opinion, Beth is the paramount leader,”Seifert said of her most productive player. “I can honestlysay, I cannot remember her ever taking a day off without beingforced to. When forced too, yes, but never on her own accord. Andwhat I mean by that is she gives 100 percent every day —whether she’s sick, whether she’s hurt, she nevercomplains. She always works hard. And not only leads that way, butleads emotionally, leads with her performance. She’s just theconsummate leader.”

Guibilato, Mihm and Karasek were standouts on Wednesday, but theentire team played well, hitting .288 percent — theteam’s fourth-best percentage this season. The Mustangs alsoput up 64 digs, eight blocks and one ace by senior outside hitterJacky Niederstadt. Niederstadt has 97 aces in her career and is setto be the fourth player in SMU history to record 100 aces.

“We’ve been expecting a win for awhile,”Giubilato said after the game. “This is just a step in theright direction — going toward the WAC Championships. Thiswas a really important win for us. Intensity made the difference.Everyone had to step it up. It’s hard to break a losingstreak because you get used to losing. You’ve got to give theextra effort to get it back and win again. It’ll be easier towin again now that we got this one.”

The Mustangs’ final home game of the season is Saturdayagainst the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters [6-19, 1-10 WAC] at noonin Moody Coliseum. The game is senior day, and will mark the lastgame on the home court for three players.

“It’s gonna be emotional,” Seifert said aboutthe game against LA Tech. “Not just as coach, but as aplayer, I think our seniors have represented all that’s goodin being in athletics. They’ve definitely made somesacrifices. Two of them have had ACL injuries (Niederstadt andsetter/libero Jackie Erazmus) and come back from that.They’ve pretty much given all they have to give to theprogram.”

When asked what the team hoped to accomplish in the senior daygame on Saturday, Giubilato said simply: “We’re gonnawin it for the seniors.”