With the start of the single-elimination NCAA volleyball tournament last weekend in the UW-Field House, all understood that it was crunch time.
No longer can a team afford to make unforced errors knowing that just one play could decide the outcome of an entire season. Unfortunately, three teams had to end their seasons a game earlier than any had wanted.
Fortunately for Wisconsin, the Badgers were the only team left celebrating on the court. Notre Dame, UW-Milwaukee, and Michigan State were not so lucky.
When MSU defeated the Fighting Irish 3-1 Friday night, the Notre Dame players were the first of the three to face the fact that their season was finished.
While head coach Debbie Brown maintained enough composure to answer the questions at hand from the media, the players had to try their best to respond in between the tears and sobs of a concluded season.
Instead of reflecting on the loss at hand, the players opted to not let one loss overshadow the accomplishments that the teams achieved. Rather, they chose to address the highs of the season.
Both Notre Dame (Big East) and UW-Milwaukee (Horizon League) won their respective conference championships. MSU was the only team of the four playing this weekend that did not win a conference title.
However, the Spartans were by far playing some of the best volleyball in the Big Ten and NCAA in the second half of the season. MSU went on a 9-1 run in the final 10 games with their only loss coming at the hands of the Badgers. MSU was the only team to defeat both Penn State and Ohio State on the road, and they appeared mentally and physically ready to handle Wisconsin for the third time this year.
“I thought that our team has had a great season, and a loss here certainly does not diminish what our players accomplished,” said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. “There are only two teams that went 9-1 (at the end of the regular season) and only one team that won the Ohio State/Penn State road trip — and that was us.”
Watching three teams cry for a season loss and one rejoice in the fact that theirs was still going strong showed that volleyball just isn’t a game of passing and attacking, but a game of emotion.
Erbe, who commented on the great support that Wisconsin gets from both the community and athletic department, summed it up best in the end.
” Wisconsin’s support is great for the sport of volleyball,” said Erbe. “We’re fighting to get back to [the level of support UW has], and we’re fighting with every breath we’ve got. That is why when we lose a match like this you see the young women like this cry because the investment is total, not partial — total. That is why when you lose it’s devastating, because it means it is over.”
Erbe went on to say that although this season is over, the ending marks a new start for the players.
“This is not an ending, this is a beginning,” said Erbe. “Mark my words, we will be back and we’re going to be strong.”
Unfortunately, MSU, like the 48 other teams out of the tournament, will no longer have the chance to showcase the accomplished seasons they had, but next weekend 12 more teams will follow the same long path home to prepare for next year.
