Volleyball has won their first set over their last 12 sets last Thursday, but were defeated in four total sets by Mount Aloysius. The Jackets were led by freshman middle hitter Hannah Colvin who had 12 kills in the match, a season high for her.

Head coach Stephanie Benkowski was going into the season lacking the middle hitter position and Colvin stepped up and through the long road of the season she has been able to improve.

“She volunteered herself as a middle so she started to learn a new positon at the beginning of the year, I think she had finally bought in [and] realized that we’re going to keep her [at] middle,” said Benkowski. “Her wanting to do better has made a big difference for us.”

For Colvin, it was adjustment going from outside to middle and she has finally felt she has hit her stride.

“It was definitely a little bit frustrating because it took a lot, it’s a different set you have to be a lot quicker,” said Colvin. “[Benkowski] said in two weeks I would get the hang of it and I’m just starting to get the hang of it and I’m still adjusting and learning new things every day.”

Thursday night marked the first time the Hagerstown, Maryland Colvin broke double digits in kills for the season.

“She was moving a lot our passes were good but that helped set the middle but she was on,” said Benkowski. “She was hot on Thursday I mean it really worked for her.”

Overall, it was a strong passing night that helped the setters get better passes to the young hitter that led the offense.

“If you don’t have the best pass, you can’t really set the middle so we were having a pretty good passing night allowing the setter to distribute the ball to all of our hitters,” said Colvin. “My teammates were calling out spots that were open so I was trying to be smart where I placed the ball.”

Through the season, Benkowski’s team has been the subject of a lack of meeting the constancy required.

“It’s a rollercoaster ride, if I’m happy or not, I mean that’s the honest truth like yes when we play to our potential,” said Benkowski. “I see a huge amount of improvement happens but then when we walk onto the court and we’re not playing to our potential, I wonder why we took five steps backwards.”

This match also marks the beginning of the second half of the conference schedule for the Jackets, which is an important half for a team that has not won a single set in PAC games.

“We have half the season left, we’re in the second half now, we got to show up for every practice and every game,” said Benkowski. “For us, we have a lot of strides we’ve made we have to start believing we can do it and I think in this moment we question a lot of things.”

Next Saturday, volleyball has double header against Geneva (12-7, 5-2) who is 4th in the PAC. Then they take on Westminster who is ranked 2nd in the PAC (14-4, 6-2), both teams defeated Waynesburg in the first matchups of the year.