Pacific Index

Despite going 1-3 their last 4 games, Boxer volleyball has cause to celebrate 

After losing three straight games, the Boxer volleyball team ended their losing run with a 3-0 win against Lewis and Clark. Even with that three game losing streak, the headlines were shining for senior Aly Cargill, as she recorded her 500th dig, another milestone to add to her legendary career as a Boxer. 

Teammate junior Emma Velchek sure thinks so, as she commented on Cargill’s massive achievement. “500 digs is pretty big. That’s a lot,” she applauded, “She works so hard in practice. She’s a very uplifting teammate and just like, every little dig she gets, she gets it up, and that’s what’s valuable to the team.”

Velchek, like Cargill, has had a great season, leading the team with 73 kills, and 15 service aces. “It feels great because my success is reflected on my teammates and how they can make me successful,” explained Velchek. Velchek expanded on that, highlighting how her success is dependent on how the team performs. “If I get a good kill, it’s because we started out with a great pass. It’s because that setter took that ball and made it a great set, and we were able to put it away and get the point. Volleyball is a really heavy team sport. All of our positions do very different things. It goes along to say like I can’t do it with my teammates, and I don’t think nobody else could, but it shows how much I love my teammates and how much trust I have in them and how much we respect each other to perform and do well.”

The Boxers have pretty much matched the stat lines against their opponents, except for one culprit: errors. They have made 181 errors this season, 11 more than their opponents. Specifically, they’ve made 88 serve errors, 21 more than their opponents, and that has cost them sets and games. Velchek has said that the team are working on minimizing those, highlighting that those errors are just, “free points for the other team.”

“We’ve been focusing on it a lot recently, because mis-serves are just free points for the other team,” explained Velchek, “If we lost a set 25-22, and we missed three serves, well, if we can control those errors, we can still battle. A lot of it is just like very controllable errors, so it’s frustrating but we can end them.”

One headline that’s been very quiet recently is Callie Turner, and how she’s starting to rotate into being a full time starter as a freshman. Turner ranks fourth in assists on the team, and Velchek had a lot to say about her work rate. “Callie works so hard, so hard to practice, so hard in a game,” said Velchek. “I feel like every time she comes into a game, whether she starts or not, she has so much energy and she’s just always somebody who’s willing to support…”

Boxer Volleyball marches on to play Willamette University on Friday, Oct. 10.