Nick Vernon, Campus Carrier Sports Editor
After the Vikings’ volleyball team lost to Birmingham-Southern and beat Maryville at a tri-match held at the Cage Center on Sept. 20, the team beat Millsaps in an exciting win the next day. Set scores against Millsaps were 25-18, 18-25, 25-18 and 25-23.
Head coach Mika Robinson discussed the team’s spirit over the weekend.
“Our ability to bounce back from the loss to Birmingham Southern on Saturday to beat a very good Millsaps team on Sunday says a lot about this group’s resilience and dedication to working to improve every day,” she said.
The Vikings improved to 7-9 overall and 2-1 in Southern Athletic Association (SAA) play. The Millsaps Majors suffered their first loss of the season and fell to 11-1 and 2-1 in SAA play.
Robinson talked about the team’s progression during a challenging preseason schedule.
“We have played an incredibly difficult preseason schedule (four teams who are currently in the top 10 in Division III), and played all of those teams very close including beating the number 20 team in the country (DePauw University),” she said.
“While our overall record is not what we had hoped, we have definitely gotten better every week,” Robinson said. “Once we start to believe that we are as good as we actually are physically, our performance is going to go to a whole new level.”
Senior Anna Keappler and juniors Katie O’Rourke and Emily Stromberg were among three Berry players in double digits for kills on Sunday against the Millsaps Majors.
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| Gabriela Rivas, Staff Photojournalist Junior Katie Trulock serves against the Millsaps Majors. |
Stromberg surpassed the 1,000-point barrier for her career in the contest. This point total is a collected combination of kills, aces and blocks.
Stromberg said she was not even aware she was close to reaching this mark, and her thoughts on the manner were completely team-related.
“I’m so happy I was able to do it here at Berry and with this team,” she said. “Every point that I earned was for them.”
Other notable performances from Berry players against Millsaps included sophomore Katie Truluck, who had 20 digs, and junior Lauren Schmitz, who surpassed a match-best 44 assists.
In the fourth set against the Majors, Berry rallied from behind to close out the match.
Stromberg said she thinks they found their team identity in the game.
“It showed a lot of resiliency on our part in that we lost the day before, but we decided to come out and play Berry volleyball,” she said.
Assistant coach Caitlyn Jansen explained how Berry volleyball’s prior success and reputation has resulted in them being “the team to beat” this season.
“We have a huge target on our backs in the SAA conference,” Jansen said. “We are always going to see every other team’s best.”
The Vikings next compete again against Sewanee in the Cage Center on Sept. 27.
