The men’s volleyball team knew it would be a tough test when Mount Mercy (14-5) visited the Carver Center Wednesday night, and they were right as the Vikings lost a close 3-1 match to very good Mount Mercy team.
When talking to Coach Lau about his team’s game plan going into the match, he kept it simple.
“We wanted to apply consistent service pressure to make sure that they could not set their middles.  We knew that regardless of how tough we served that they could set their opposite which is their primary attacker but we had to be able to slow down the efficiency of their secondary options,” Lau said.
The Vikings had late leads in games 3 and 4 but were unable to hold on in both. When talking to Coach Lau about why they couldn’t hang on to those leads, Lau explained a lot had to do with nerves.
“We allowed the pressure of the game to negatively affect our decision-making processes and how we mentally and emotionally handled those moments,” Lau said. “We got a little scared of losing instead of staying focused on playing together in the present moment.”
When talking to freshman player, Justin Murphy, on how crucial the team chemistry is when a team is struggling especially with a young team, Murphy focused on the positive aspect of it all.
“To be honest, I forget a lot of the time that our team is mostly underclassmen due to our ability to step up and take charge. Our team chemistry is great. We get along so well on and off the court, and it shows. We’re always there to pick each other up when we fall and encourage each other to strive for greatness,” Murphy said.
When asking Murphy how they move forward as a team after tough losses like this one to Mount Mercy, Murphy said that they plan to learn from it.
“After losing tough matches such as the one against Mount Mercy, we look back on our mistakes, watch the film, and get after it in practice.  We are really good at bouncing back and becoming a better team day by day,” Murphy said.
The Vikings, however, came back with a five-set win against Loras on Saturday and hope to keep the train moving as they prepare for their next match against North Central on Friday, March 16, at the Carver Center.
Photo: (left to right) Justin Murphy (’21) and Dylan Baum (’21) kneel to hit the ball during the Viking’s match against Mount Mercy on Wednesday night. Photo by Kevin Donovan