Volleyball scores good practice at invitational

The women’s volleyball team hosted tough competition this weekend in the seventh annual SMU Invitational. Tulane, Univ-ersity of Texas at San Antonio and University of California at Berkeley all gave the Mustangs a run for their money.

Katy Moffett, a junior outside hitter, said that the pre-season tournaments are a good way for the team to improve its game.

“We have to be prepared for every level of play because we have some really good teams in conference,” Moffet said.

Coach Lisa Seifert said she had been concerned the team was not ready for the invitational this weekend because they had not had a good work week in practice.

Seifert’s reservations proved true with the loss to Tulane on Friday night.

“The Tulane thing will be with me for a while. [The loss] really stuck in my side,” she said. “We felt like we could get them.”

But could a heartbreaking loss give a team more incentive to win? Moffett thinks so.

Moffett said the loss to Tulane was disappointing, but the team managed to turn it into something positive and use it for its next match.

Seifert said she had a long talk with the women.

“Tomorrow’s a new day,” she said. “We will be judged by our rebound.”

And rebound they did.

The Mustangs played to victory against University of Texas at San Antonio in four games Saturday afternoon.

The team could not bask in the glory of its win for long because the match against Cal Berkeley was right around the corner.

Middle blocker Kollin Hoskins knew that the match against the Bears would be hard that night but she hoped that they could pull off a win.

The Mustangs lost in a quick three games.

“They did the technical stuff that we didn’t do,” Hoskins said. “We couldn’t execute but we played good defense.”

After the Red and Blue Scrimmage, the goal for the team was improving defense. They thought hitting was strong. Now that the defense has improved, the hitting needs work, Seifert said.

“But they are all improving. We’ve got to get better every week,” she said.

And with a young team, it makes the future for the volleyball team promising.

Hoskins, a freshman, is not intimidated by the game or being new on the court. Instead, she is motivated by the team’s potential for growth over the next four years.

Hoskins tied a school record of eight blocks. The team had a total of 17 blocks in the tournament.

Kristen Peterson, a senior outside hitter took home All-Tournament.

The SMU volleyball team suffered its second straight loss Tuesday night to the UTA Mavericks.

The Mustangs were leading at the halfway point in each match, but the team was unable to close out any of the games and lost 3-0.

The Mustangs fell to 4-6 on the season.