Towson has way with JMU

Dukes drop fourth-straight CAA match

by Brian Hansen, contributing writer

The JMU women’s volleyball team lost its fourth-straight game against a Colonial Athletic Association foe Saturday at Sinclair Gymnasium at Godwin Hall, losing to Towson University in four games. The Dukes (10-7 overall) fell to 4-5 in conference after a 4-1 start.

JMU came out strong early, but fell victim to inconsistent play. Towson, the defending CAA champ, capitalized on some errors by JMU and got four kills from senior April Hoffman to take the game 30-24.

The defense for the Dukes struggled in the first game, getting only two blocks.

“We needed to sure-up our blocking tonight, that was our big struggle,” JMU coach Disa Garner said. 

The second game was again controlled by Towson, who won it easily 30-19 — although the Dukes did get five kills from junior middle Ashley Copenhaver to keep them in it early. Copenhaver and junior right side Bayli Stillwell had 13 kills each to lead the Dukes for the night.  

Game three saw the Dukes come up with much more aggressiveness and really attack the net. Sophomore middle Allyson Halls led the Dukes with six kills and three blocks. Three other Dukes, Stillwell, Copenhaver and sophomore middle Lesley Schmidt had multiple kills to lead the Dukes to a 33-31 win. 

“I think we really figure things out tonight, especially in that third game,” Garner said. “We need to be aggressive and play with a lot of energy and confidence. We didn’t do that in the first two games.” 

Senior outside hitter Emilee Hussack said, “Our biggest problem is emotional and mental.  We need to play more consistent if we want to win.”

The aggressive play carried over into the fourth game but the Tigers got three kills from Hoffman to lead them to a 30-26 win. Hoffman finished with a game-high 20 kills and three service aces in leading the Tigers to their seventh conference victory. The defending conference champs were coming off a lost to Hofstra University, which broke a 16-match conference-winning streak for the Tigers. Garner said that playing the defending conference champs was not an issue for the Dukes.

“They are all the same for us,” she said. “We see them twice a year and if we played more consistent, we could have played them tougher.” 

The Dukes lost their fourth-straight conference game, but are looking to use the halfway point in their conference schedule to rebound.

“We need to take a breath. It’s been a rough two weeks, but we need to rebound in the second half,” Hussack said. “We want to win the rest of our conference games, and we’ll need to build off our last two games tonight to do that. The key is to be consistent mentally and to come out more aggressive next time.”

The Dukes’ next chance to work on their consistency is next Friday at Sinclair Gymnasium at Godwin Hall against the Pride of Hofstra at 7 p.m.