After a tough trip to Wisconsin last week, the Oswego State volleyball team looks forward to being home for the annual Oswego State Invitational.
After losing just one set in their first three games of the year, the Lakers went to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the Pizza Hut Invitational, where they lost three of four games. Their only win of the trip came against Lawrence College, who lost every game of the invitational and as of publishing, have a 1-10 record. Oswego State did not win one set the rest of the games. However, the Lakers had never seen any of these teams before. To add to the challenge of surprise, the remaining three teams hold a combined record of 17-5.
“We played some really tough competition,” said senior Shauna O’Flaherty. “It was really good because we have never really seen any of these teams before, so it was good to see some of our weaknesses and see what we need to work on heading into this weekend.”
This weekend the Lakers will be home for the first time this season for the Oswego State Invitational to take on Utica College, Elmira College and SUNY Canton. The Lakers had some success last year in their home invitational, going 4-1. Their only loss came against St. Lawrence University, while they beat SUNY Canton and Elmira College by scores of 3-1. The Lakers had success at home last year, posting a strong 7-3 record. After their first eight games on the road, the Lakers are ready to play in front of the home crowd.
“We are all so excited to be at home,” said junior Melissa Lussier. “I think that because it’s at home, we will have the most energy that we had all season.”
Home court advantage is a real thing in sports, and home openers are typically another level of excitement. The Lakers have a chance to come back, playing teams they have had success against.
In the last three years, Oswego State has a combined record of 5-1 against SUNY Canton and Elmira College. The three teams the Lakers will face at the invitational enter Oswego with a combined 2019 record of 3-21. If the Lakers play the quality volleyball they are capable of playing, that can give them a lot of momentum heading into their first SUNYAC game against SUNY Cortland. Even though they have four games before they face the Red Dragons, SUNY Cortland is already on coach J.J. O’Connell’s mind.
“Really our main focus for this weekend is how we are going to play against Cortland” O’Connell said. “Getting four wins in the next week would be great but I would sacrifice four wins for one win against Cortland.”
SUNYAC play has not started for any team yet but the Red Dragons have the best nonconference record at 5-3.
Every game is important, but conference games are how you make the playoffs. The Lakers, despite having a solid 19-14 record last season, went just 4-5 in the conference. Because of this, they snuck into the playoffs with the sixth seed. The fifth seed, SUNY Potsdam, had a below .500 record at 13-18, went 4-5 in the conference and won the tiebreaker against Oswego State, giving them the higher seed. Like every season, winning conference games is vital to the Lakers season. In order to make a run at the SUNYAC title, O’Connell is looking for a player to step up.
“There’s one key component I’m still looking for” O’Connell said. “In the crunch time Alison Sullivan got us a kill or a block when we needed it, and I am looking for that one player, or two players, that are saying, ‘we are in a close game I got this.’ We have a bunch of options, we have a lot of talent, a lot of senior experience, but I’m still waiting for a player on this team to carry us to victory.”
The Oswego State Invitational will start at 6:00 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13 in the Max Ziel Gymnasium with the Lakers taking on the Utica College Pioneers. It will continue Saturday with the first game starting at 11:00 a.m. Despite coming off a couple of losses the girls feel confident for the invitational.
“Just to win,” O’Flaherty said.
Her teammate Lussier agreed, when she said, “To win.”
