After a slow start to the regular season, UMass Boston Women’s Volleyball team has seemed to find their footing in their first Little East Conference match. It appears that the Beacons aren’t wasting any time as they stride into the bulk of their in-conference games.
In their first in-conference match, the Beacons came out victorious in a dominant performance against Worcester State University. The Beacons are currently 1 and 0 against LEC opponents. Coach Eric Berg has high expectations for the Beacons as they approach the bulk of their conference opponents in the last week of September.
“I expect to see this unit in the playoffs this season. That’s something we haven’t done in roughly seven years,” said Berg. “We have a group of players that have been together for two years now, with only one new transfer as an addition to our core. Our team is about being a complete unit and I have high hopes that we will reach our goals come playoff time. It would be great to have these girls run away with a match during the postseason.”
With an experienced team, the Beacons are expected to make an appearance in the Little East Tournament this year. At the end of last season, the Women’s Tennis Team fell just short of this goal by a single match point. For some, this is a heartbreaking margin, but for the Beacon’s Tennis Team, it only invigorated them. “I’ve seen how hard the squad has worked since the end of last season,” said Berg. “They have gotten tougher mentally and physically. The months of gym work and the outside training has all been in preparation for this season.”
Coach Berg is “not satisfied” with just winning a few matches and it appears that the squad isn’t either. Despite their lofty goals, reaching the LEC postseason will be no cakewalk. No Little East team is weak by any means, but the Beacons anticipate wins in three of the next five matches. The most attainable W’s are against teams such as Southern Maine, Western Connecticut, and Salem State. However, “Any team in the conference can be beaten on any given day,” stated the coach. “If we can walk out with three to four conference wins, we will definitely obtain a goal that the tennis program hasn’t reached in years.”
In order to make the playoffs, the Beacons will have to place in the top six teams out of nine in the LEC. In such a talented league, the statistics don’t represent the actual difficultly in the challenge. Regardless of the task, one thing is clear: The women’s tennis program is set on making history.
Women’s Tennis Reaching New Heights
September 18, 2015