The women’s volleyball team is wrapping up its season as it looks to earn a bid in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) tournament. The Vikings are currently placed in the sixth spot in the conference and hold the last spot in the tournament field. Their record sits at 10-17 overall and 2-5 in conference games.
After starting conference play 1-4, the Vikings hosted North Central College at the Roy J. Carver Center for a match that provided a significant opportunity for the team to prove themselves. After four exciting sets, Augustana emerged victorious and defeated North Central 3-1. Throughout her experience, senior Kira Nelson understands that getting hot late in the season is encouraging for the team.
“I feel like that game against North Central was a big turnaround,” Nelson said. “We really played together and everything just clicked. We were very supportive of one another. When we played more as a team, that’s really exciting to see at this point in our season.”
Augustana had to turn the page quickly because they hosted UW-La Crosse at home. It was not just any other match, however, it was the team’s senior night where they honored the seniors on the team. While it is an annual tradition and a very emotional event, head coach Kelly Bethke was not worried about the team being distracted from the rest of the game.
“Particularly this year, our seniors just have been so focused that I didn’t think it was going to be a distraction for them,” Bethke said. “They just come out every day focused on the game, and I’m sure they appreciated the honor of being recognized by their teammates and everyone.”
UW-La Crosse forced a fifth set after going down 2-0 to the Vikings, but it was not enough as Augustana defeated them in a close last frame. With the win, an emotional senior night got a whole lot better as the pregame celebration could continue after the game for the team. For First-Year Carmela Carbone, not only was it satisfying coming out with a win, but to compete as a unit to help the seniors was even better.
“There was definitely times within the match knowing when to celebrate and knowing when to work hard, because it is their senior day,” Carbone said. “Everybody really wanted those wins, and we were really happy to be able to come out with a senior day win. Just having confidence in ourselves that we can work hard for our seniors was really important for the team and underclassmen like me.”
As the team competes in their last stretch of regular season games, a focus point throughout the season that still remains true is the stressing point of coming together as a team to help motivate each other. Despite the Vikings’ record faltering from last season, that does not change their ethic and togetherness as a team as they continue to fight for a postseason chance.
“The biggest thing is our work ethic,” Nelson said. “‘We don’t know when to quit’ kind of thing. We always push each other to be the best that we can and always motivate each other, which has really helped. We also always stay together as a team, where you don’t really get to see that in a lot of other teams. They kind of beat themselves up and get down, where we continue to fight no matter what.”