The Hiram Terriers men’s volleyball team has been plagued with inconsistent play this season and that continued as they were swept 25-21, 25-16, 25-22 by Presidents’ Athletic Conference rival Thiel College last Saturday afternoon at the Price Gymnasium.
“I think they had spurts here and there and that has been the story of our season at times,” said Coach Kyle Martini. “We have shown we can do it and then there are times where we fall short or find a way to take ourselves out of it. In the second set alone, we missed six serves.”
It marked the Terriers’ (6-12, 2-7) eighth straight defeat, and the fifth straight league match that they have lost over the span of the losing streak. The Terriers have also lost 17 consecutive sets, as their last victory in a set came against league rival Bethany College on March 6.
The Terriers currently sit in sixth place in the conference, only one match ahead of Bethany and if they relinquish that lead, their season will end with them on the outside looking in for the annual PAC tournament, as the top six teams will make the cut with one team being left behind.
According to the first-year coach, Hiram knows what is at stake and he is confident that its best volleyball still has yet to come.
“I don’t think they have put a full match together all season,” Martini added. “I think early on against Geneva College they saw spurts and here in the third set they saw spurts, but I don’t think they understand that when they play together just how good they can be.”
On Saturday, the league rivals traded points at the beginning of the match, but the Tomcats pushed ahead 14-9 advantage by using a quick 6-1 spurt to assume control.
The Terriers responded with an 8-6 run, trimming Thiel’s lead to 20-17 near the end of the set but the Tomcats’ front row of attackers and middle blockers sealed the victory, outscoring Hiram by a 5-4 margin.
Thiel’s offense was electric in the first set as they scored 15 kills and recorded a .433 killing percentage in the opening set.
“I think we played high at the net,” Martini noted. “They have one guy in the middle, Kaleb Proudfoot, he is unbelievable. Luckily for us, he only plays three rotations, not six so when he is off, we have to capitalize.”
The Terriers committed several unforced mental errors in the second set, including committing mistakes on serves, and Thiel took a commanding 13-3 advantage and never relinquished control.
Senior outside hitter/right side hitter Derek Chiang acknowledged that throughout most of Hiram’s matches, it has been a rollercoaster of extreme highs and extreme lows and the second set was another example of just how costly the Terriers’ inconsistent play has been.
“Sometimes the match can be entirely dependent on energy,” added the 6-foot-6 senior, who recorded 10 kills and one assist. “That energy can result in a few points going your way and a few points not going your way so to players, it is very important to have that moment sometimes because it can be such a turning point because sometimes all you need is one outstanding moment to shift the entire energy of the match.”
The Tomcats cruised to a 25-15 victory in the second set, gaining all of the momentum but Hiram responded with a fiercely contested third set, as the league foes traded points throughout the set.
After Thiel went ahead 5-2, the Terriers responded with a 5-2 run to tie the set at 7-7 and neither team could build a lead greater than one point until toward the end of the set.
Deadlocked at 20-20, the Tomcats scored two consecutive points on a block/kill and an ace by sophomore outside hitter Ezra Oesterling, pushing Thiel ahead 22-20 and that surge was all it took for the Tomcats to put away winning the final set 25-22 to complete the sweep.
Although the Terriers have only three matches left and are on the verge of falling outside of the tournament picture, Chiang said that the Terriers are far from ready to have the season end early.
“It will come down to who really wants it when it matters,” he said. “I look at all of the teams in the conference and anyone can win the conference playoffs, but it is just a matter of who will actually step up when it matters the most.”
After a home match against Bethany College on Tuesday evening and a home duel against Geneva College on Wednesday night, the Terriers will face Grove City College in Grove City, PA on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
