Volleyball hopes to find respite in weak Lafayete

After losing 3-0 to powerful Villanova, the 7-6 Quakers head to Easton, Pa., tonight to face a 1-10 Lafayette squad. For the Penn volleyball team, simply identifying the problem is half the battle. Recently, the Quakers have struggled to get into the match mentally and as a result have often had to play catch-up after digging themselves a considerable hole in the early games. Penn hopes to put these problems behind it starting today when it travels to Lafayette University. Penn's mental weaknesses were never more apparent than in the team's latest match, a 3-0 loss at the hands of Villanova University, in which the Quakers service errors essentially spelled their doom. Fortunately for the team, the Quakers (7-6) believe that they have not only discovered the problem but are well on the way to righting the ship. With their newfound knowledge in tow, the Quakers play the Leopards today in hopes of mending their collective psyche and rebuilding their confidence before the start of the Ivy League season. Unfortunately for Lafayette, Penn's determination to prove that it can come out firing early may spell doom for the overmatched Leopards (1-10). Since the Villanova match, the Quakers' practices have been devoted primarily to working out the mental bugs and discovering how the team can come out more ready to compete from the outset. "We have been talking a lot about coming out strong, getting focused before the match starts," senior captain Kristel Weaver said. "We really want to get ourselves ready mentally that way we can come out fired up." Although a lack of mental toughness has clearly been a main part of the Red and Blue's problems, some members of the team have other theories about why Penn is overly relaxed early in matches. No matter what one believes is causing these slow starts, there is unanimous consensus among the Quakers that improving the mental game will be the key to any turnaround. "I think that part of it is that since we are a good team we come out overconfident and come out just expecting to win," freshman defensive specialist Alexis Zimbalist said. "We've been working on mental toughness a lot, and I think that we are going to put that behind us and come out strong. "We're really working on starting out strong and playing tough no matter who is on the other side of the net." No matter what the specific cause of the Quakers' early season struggles may be, signs of improvement are readily apparent. Penn coach Kerry Major is primarily leaving it up to the individual to figure out what she needs to do to be more mentally prepared. The team has been doing a lot of mentally challenging drills in practice this past week and has been having the athletes work out the kinks as a team. "Something really great happened today in practice," Major said. "We came out slow in this serve-receive drill but were able to regain focus and turn things around. We had just finished a lighter serving drill and came out relaxed. I saw some real leaders emerge today. The key is changing it before it gets too bad." Although the Leopards are one of the weaker opponents on Penn's schedule this season, the Quakers hope to take advantage of that to work out problems on their side of the net. Tonight's match serves a dual purpose for the Quakers. It is not only an opportunity for them to cure their chronic mental woes but the team is also hoping to use the match as a springboard into the obviously important Ivy League season. For this reason, Major said that she will play everyone on her team. She believes that this will help build the confidence of her starters and the depth of her bench. Thus, the Quakers can ill afford mental collapses or slow starts as they open up Ivy League play against defending champion Brown a week from today. "We are using Lafayette as a chance to get our side together and not worry about who's on the other side of the net and then by next week we can worry about that too," Major said. "This match is purely for us to take care of our problems. "We need to get our confidence back and work out the bugs. I think the majority of games we lost because of our errors. We need to take care of ourselves and play well and that will be our springboard into the Ivies." Now that Penn has identified its weakness, nothing could be better for the Quakers than an easy blowout victory against an overmatched opponent the Quakers before charge into the most important part of the season.