Jade Alvarez serves the ball during the Knights’ matchup on Tuesday night with Columbia.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Mercedes Portalatin prepares to serve the ball on Tuesday night in Laurinburg.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Head Coach Alejandro Escobar addresses the team during a timeout on Tuesday.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
Grace Farley (10) hits the ball over the net.
Andrew Smolar | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —St. Andrews women’s volleyball was swept at home by AAC foe Columbia College on Tuesday night three sets to none. The Knights remain winless with the loss, falling to 0-9 on the season and 0-3 in conference games while Columbia improves to 2-7 overall (1-2 against AAC teams) with the win. Head Coach Alejandro Escobar has taken notice of the increased importance of conference games and the way they are played but knows their struggles need to get fixed soon.
“It’s a lot more intense and the games matter more,” Escobar said. “I have to take some accountability and take charge a little bit.”
The night consisted of two closely contested sets and one lopsided affair. The first set started off strong as the Knights came out with a purpose and hung tight with the Koalas for much of the first set before it got away from them a little bit. There were several lead changes and never any large leads to speak of but Columbia eventually won the set 25-19. The second set was simply one that the Knights couldn’t keep up with the Koalas as they were defeated 25-12. The third set was similar to the first in remaining tight throughout as St. Andrews never handed anything to Columbia but were still defeated 25-21. The team has not won a set since their first game of the season, a 3-1 loss to Life on Aug. 23. No player statistics were available from the game.
Escobar was not at all pleased with his team’s performance in this game. It was one he mentioned will lead to some changes for both himself and the team in the near future.
“We just didn’t execute at all, just the way we played we failed to put everything together,” Escobar said. “It mostly falls on me, I’m going to take a moment to evaluate myself and focus on what’s best for the team going forward.”
After competing in their first home game since Sept. 3, the team will hit the road again this weekend as they have three more games away from Laurinburg on Friday and Saturday. They will take on Pikeville on Friday at 6:30 p.m. as well as Milligan and Lees-McRae on Saturday. Escobar has made clear that he is looking at all options to jumpstart his team beginning with those games.
“The whole team knows right now it’s open competition for every position,” Escobar said. “Let’s see what they can come up with, hopefully that brings in some fight and sparks some competitiveness.”